Exactly 5 years ago today, on February 22, 2019 at 07:29:10 JST (onboard time), Hayabusa2 made the first touchdown on asteroid Ryugu during a tense operation! The video was captured by CAM-H and lasted 5 minutes 40 seconds, starting 59s before the final descent (it's sped up 5x)

Ways to delay working on #LPSC2024 poster - visit the 3d printing workshop to collect #Bennu models! At least it is related to what I should be doing, the poster is about #OSIRISREx 😊

Ready for an afternoon of HAYABUSA2@JAXA and Ryugu samples at #lpsc2024

This afternoon it's the #OSIRISREx special session (part 1), #ToBennuAndBack #LPSC2024

New crater on Mercury named - for Freddie Mercury as a matter of fact! "Bulsara crater," a 110 km crater on Mercury has been named for the lead singer of Queen. Check it out on the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/16280

⚽️🏆⚽️🏆 When's the parade for winning 2 FA Cups in one season? Manchester United Manchester United Women #FACUP24 ⚽️🏆⚽️🏆

☄️🤩 We met Dr Sarah Crowther after her talk today, where she gave an insight into the fascinating world of asteroid missions and explained how and why they can provide a greater understanding of the history of Earth and our solar system. #UoM200 Earth and Solar System

The first results from asteroid #Bennu samples are out! Our group used X-rays to study their mineralogy, finding evidence for abundant minerals formed by water-rock reactions in the early Solar System. nasa.gov/missions/osiri…

The first results from asteroid #Bennu samples are now out in the wild! Conclusion: Clays, and lots of them! Asteroid (101955) Bennu in the laboratory: Properties of the sample collected by OSIRIS‐REx onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

The first paper with early data from OSIRIS-REx #Bennu samples is published. Lots of carbon, nitrogen organic compounds and clays. Plus surprise phosphates. Link to open access paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ma… And NASA press release: nasa.gov/missions/osiri…

Our #OSIRISREx mission went to asteroid Bennu to learn more about the early solar system. Early analyses of the returned sample reveal organic molecules and surprisingly, phosphates, which indicate that Bennu may have once been part of a wet world. go.nasa.gov/3XCsMLt

Apparently 7th July is world chocolate day. Just wanted to share that in case anyone needs an excuse... 🍫🍫🍫 #WorldChocolateDay

Mare Tranquillitatis was NOT "probably once an ocean" The name Mare comes from when early astronomers mistakenly thought there were seas on the Moon, but we've known for a long time that they're lava-filled basins bbc.co.uk/news/articles/… Georgina Rannard BBC Science News BBC News (UK)

Free Online Course Alert! 👨🏻‍💻👩🏾‍💻 NASA's Mission To Psyche just unveiled a new online course all about asteroids, comets & meteorites. Learn about these rocky objects and the missions that study them. ☄️🪨 Get started: psyche.asu.edu/get-involved/i…

Space nails! 🚀 🪐

I think that's me! Not a bad crowd for 3 talks in a row about noble gases, I didn't scare them all of with xenon isotopes 🤣

It’s been 20 years since the Genesis capsule carrying samples of solar wind atoms landed in the Utah desert. Since then, scientists around the world have studied the particles to better understand the connection between the solar wind and evolution of our solar system. Video:

Despite the capsule’s hard landing, the curation team was able to recover samples for distribution to the scientific community. They were the first extraterrestrial samples returned to Earth by NASA since the final Apollo mission in 1972. The NASA Astromaterials division at

We #ObserveTheMoon with microscopes! Thinly sliced Moon rocks can bring a closer look at the sample’s composition and structure. Scientists use that to learn about how the Moon was formed. Make your own moon observations on Sept 14: go.nasa.gov/3AR1B6B