Asteroid-circling spacecraft grabs extraordinary Earth pic
Asteroid-circling spacecraft grabs extraordinary Earth pic
This image captured on Dec. 19, 2018, by a camera on the Osiris-Rex spacecraft shows the asteroid Bennu, top right, about 27 miles from the spacecraft, and the Earth and moon, bottom left, more than 70 million miles away. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Space via AP)
Earth has a cool new snapshot itself — taken by a photographer from 70 million miles away.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft took the pic days before going into orbit around asteroid Bennu on New Year’s Eve.
The tiny asteroid — barely one-third of a mile across — appears as a big bright blob in the long-exposure photo released last week.
Earth appears as a white dot, with the moon an even smaller dot but still clearly visible.
OSIRIS-REx, which launched from Florida in 2016, is in orbit around the small celestial body from perhaps a mile out.
Next year, OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) will attempt to gather some samples from the carbon-rich asteroid, for return to Earth in 2023.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Frank Miles is a reporter and editor covering geopolitics, military, crime, technology and sports for FoxNews.com. His email is Frank.Miles@foxnews.com.
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