Brian May, the legendary guitarist of Queen and an astrophysicist, was overjoyed by NASA's successful mission to bring back a sample of Bennu, the largest asteroid, to Earth on Sunday. May, who has a PhD in astrophysics, was involved in the selection of the site from which the sample was collected.
May and Claudia Manzoni, one of the contributors to his new 3D stereoscopy book, Bennu - The Asteroid Atlas, helped to narrow down the possible sample sites for NASA’s Osiris-Rex probe, which touched down on Bennu in 2020. The probe landed in the Utah desert on Sunday and May told the BBC that it was an "historic day."
"I always say you need art as well as science. It’s like an artistic thing. You need to feel the terrain to know if the spaceship is likely to fall over or if it will hit this ‘rock of doom’ that was right on the edge of the eventual chosen site, called Nightingale. If that had happened it would have been disastrous. There were a billion dollars of American taxpayers’ money at stake," May said.
May also posted video and photos of Sunday's landing on his social media accounts, expressing his excitement and admiration for the NASA team. He also shared an audio clip of himself explaining the significance of the mission, saying that the sample of material from Bennu could reveal clues about the origins of life itself.
Bennu is a near-Earth asteroid that is about 500 meters wide and orbits the sun every 1.2 years. It is considered a potentially hazardous object, as it has a small chance of colliding with Earth in the late 22nd century. Scientists are interested in studying Bennu because it is a remnant of the early solar system and could contain organic molecules and water.
May's book, Bennu - The Asteroid Atlas, is a collection of 3D images of Bennu that were created using data from Osiris-Rex. The book also includes scientific information and historical anecdotes about asteroids and space exploration. May hopes that his book will inspire people to learn more about astronomy and appreciate the beauty and mystery of the universe.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]