Bennu’s Orbit Examined with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission monitored Bennu’s trajectory with extraordinary precision. It performed an important function in permitting scientists to detect the slightest of deviations within the asteroid’s path. The spacecraft additionally collected a pattern from Bennu that returned to Earth in 2023. According to Dr. Yu-Dai Tsai, physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Bennu’s trajectory knowledge has been analysed meticulously, giving scientists a singular alternative to search for delicate shifts in its orbit that would trace at forces past our present understanding.
Investigating Forces and Particles within the Universe
The study of forces in physics typically includes figuring out particles related to them. For occasion, photons, particles of sunshine, are accountable for electromagnetic interactions. Should a fifth power exist, its particle could be accountable for darkish matter, an enigmatic part of the cosmos. Using Bennu’s orbital knowledge, scientists explored this risk, narrowing down the potential traits of such particles to extraordinarily mild lots, roughly a millionth of a trillionth of an electron’s mass.
Expanding the Search Across the Solar System
With these findings, researchers counsel that analysing the orbits of further asteroids might additional check for any indicators of the fifth power, doubtlessly revealing a bigger vary of particle lots. While the bodily samples from Bennu supply insights into its materials composition, its exact trajectory might ultimately deepen our understanding of forces and particles related to darkish matter.
