¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 December 14 IFRAME: [2]https://www.youtube.com/embed/NuLuCeawQSo?rel=0 Capsule Returns from Asteroid Ryugu Video Credit: [3]JAXA, [4]Hayabusa2 Explanation: The [5]streak across the sky is a capsule returning from an [6]asteroid. It returned earlier this month from the near-Earth asteroid [7]162173 Ryugu carrying small rocks and dust [8]from its surface. The [9]canister was released by its mothership, [10]Japan's [11]Hayabusa2, a mission that visited [12]Ryugu in 2018, [13]harvested a surface sample in 2019, and zoomed back past Earth. The jettisoned [14]return capsule deployed a parachute and [15]landed in rural [16]Australia. A similar mission, NASA's [17]OSIRIS- [18]REx, recently [19]captured rocks and dust from a similar asteroid, [20]Bennu, and is scheduled to return its surface sample to Earth in 2023. [21]Analyses of compounds from these asteroids holds promise to give humanity new insights about the early [22]Solar System and new clues about [23]how water and [24]organic matter came to be on [25]Earth. Experts Debate: [26]How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life? Tomorrow's picture: Jupiter meets Saturn __________________________________________________________________ [27]< | [28]Archive | [29]Submissions | [30]Index | [31]Search | [32]Calendar | [33]RSS | [34]Education | [35]About APOD | [36]Discuss | [37]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [38]Robert Nemiroff ([39]MTU) & [40]Jerry Bonnell ([41]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [42]Specific rights apply. [43]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [44]ASD at [45]NASA / [46]GSFC & [47]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://www.youtube.com/embed/NuLuCeawQSo?rel=0 3. http://global.jaxa.jp/about/index.html 4. https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sas/hayabusa2/ 5. http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/topics/20201206_fireball/ 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/overview/ 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/162173_Ryugu 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181101.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2#/media/File:Replica_of_Hayabusa_capsule_at_JAXA_i.jpg 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2 12. https://trek.nasa.gov/ryugu/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190312.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181104.html 15. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/12/hayabusa2-returns-to-australia/ 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia 17. https://www.asteroidmission.org/objectives/ 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSIRIS-REx 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201103.html 20. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/101955-bennu/overview/ 21. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/asteroid-ryugu-dust-delivered-to-earth-nasa-astrobiologists-prepare-to-probe-it 22. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/in-depth/ 23. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-did-water-get-on-earth/ 24. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/media/roadmap/1998/objectives/o1_sources_organics.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070325.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate100th.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201213.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 36. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201214 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201215.html 38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 40. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 41. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 43. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 44. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 45. https://www.nasa.gov/ 46. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 47. http://www.mtu.edu/