A view of Earth and Moon captured by OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft from 40 million miles away

Image credit Earth and the moon are only dots in this photo captured on Jan. 17, 2018

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If you see the picture carefully, you will find the earth and moon in the space including several other constellations over there. This amazing view is taken by OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft on 17th Jan, 2018 when it was floating 39.5 million miles away from the Earth. Its speed was about 30,600 km/h while taking photo.

NASA said

"The bright cluster of stars in the upper left corner is the Pleiades in the Taurus constellation. Hamal, the brightest star in Aries, is located in the upper right corner of the image. The Earth-moon system is centered in the middle of five stars comprising the head of Cetus the Whale."

Image credit OSIRIS-REx's Earth Flyby: Artist's Illustration

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OSIRIS-REx spacecraft was delivered in space in September, 2016. The main motive behind the launch of this spacecraft was to collect sample from Bennu asteroid, moving very close to the earth. 

Last September, the spacecraft moved close to the earth in a circuitous course and according to schedule, the spacecraft will reach the Bennu asteroid by this summer. For sometime it will try to read Bennu in space and then move in spiral course to collect a sample in July, 2020.

Image credit

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According to schedule, the sample will land on earth in September, 2023 if the plan executes at right time. 

NASA officials have said “Mission scientists hope OSIRIS-REx teaches them more about the role that dark, primitive, carbon-rich asteroids such as Bennu may have played in seeding Earth with the building blocks of life long ago. The probe's observations should also prove useful to future asteroid miners, as well as folks studying the best ways to nudge potentially dangerous space rocks away from Earth.”

Source:

https://www.space.com/39701-earth-moon-40-million-miles-nasa-photo.html

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