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A piece of asteroid has arrived on Earth from the other side of the solar system, in a major success for Nasa’s Osiris-Rex mission. The spacecraft has spent years flying to Asteroid Bennu, gathering up a piece of it, and bringing it back home so that it can be studied by researchers. It brings an end to a mission that took seven years, saw it travel 4 billion miles, and cost more than a billion dollars. Scientists hope that study can help reveal how planets formed and evolved, and might shed light on how life itself began. Since Bennu is around 4.5 billion years old, the sample is almost like a look back into the solar system during its early years and Nasa has referred to it as a “time capsule”. Asteroid Bennu is also notable as Nasa’s “most dangerous asteroid”, according to a scale used to measure how much of a hazard a given object poses. It is the first time that Nasa has brought back a piece of an asteroid, and the first time since 2020. It is also the biggest ever to be gathered, at around 250 grams. Nasa sent a team on board helicopters to gather the sample canister, extracting it to ensure that it did not become contaminated by the environment. Since the sample was directly from the asteroid, it will not have any trace of material from the Earth on it, unlike those that fall to Earth. That sample will be distributed between 200 people at 38 institutions across the world, including those in the UK. The Osiris-Rex mission left Earth in September 2016, and arrived at the asteroid in October 2018. It gathered samples in October 2020, and then left the asteroid in April 2021. Since then, both the sample and the spacecraft have been returning back from the other side of the solar system to Earth. The spacecraft then dropped off the sample to return home, while Osiris-Rex will carry on to study another asteroid called Apophis, where it will arrive in 2029. Apophis is also notable for its danger: at times, it has challenged Bennu at the top of the league table of most dangerous objects. But recent research has suggested that Apophis poses less of a danger. Ashley King, UKRI future leaders fellow, Natural History Museum, said: “Osiris-Rex spent over two years studying asteroid Bennu, finding evidence for organics and minerals chemically altered by water. “These are crucial ingredients for understanding the formation of planets like Earth, so we’re delighted to be among the first researchers to study samples returned from Bennu. ‘We think the Bennu samples might be similar in composition to the recent Winchcombe meteorite fall, but largely uncontaminated by the terrestrial environment and even more pristine.” Dr Sarah Crowther, research fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester, said: “It is a real honour to be selected to be part of the Osiris-Rex sample analysis team, working with some of the best scientists around the world. “We’re excited to receive samples in the coming weeks and months, and to begin analysing them and see what secrets asteroid Bennu holds. “A lot of our research focuses on meteorites and we can learn a lot about the history of the solar system from them. “Meteorites get hot coming through Earth’s atmosphere and can sit on Earth for many years before they are found, so the local environment and weather can alter or even erase important information about their composition and history. “Sample return missions like Osiris-Rex are vitally important because the returned samples are pristine, we know exactly w Read More Pieces of a distant asteroid are about to fall to Earth Nasa to return largest asteroid sample ever as UK helps with research Astronomers find abundance of Milky Way-like galaxies in early universe Pieces of a distant asteroid are about to fall to Earth Nasa to return largest asteroid sample ever as UK helps with research Astronomers find abundance of Milky Way-like galaxies in early universe

By Ian Ransom HANGZHOU, China The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) says it is happy for the North

A mysterious spinning ‘UFO’ has been spotted in the night sky by a stunned local. The brightly illuminated object is seen spinning in the air, but it appears to hover above a mountain. The shocked onlooker zooms in on the mysterious aircraft while saying in wonder: “It’s moving.” The hovering UFO was filmed in the village of Honorato Vásquez, Ecuador, on Tuesday (9 Sept) evening. The local authorities have yet to respond to claims that the object was from outer space. One local said: “I believe it.” Manuel wrote: “Those crazy aliens.” Yet Eddy joked: “In that drone there, you wouldn’t even be able to fit two-quarters of a Martian!” It followed an alleged aerial battle between military personnel and several alien spaceships in Argentina this month. Scared locals claimed that the military base was attacked by four black triangular-shaped UFOs. Scores of residents gathered outside the Commander Espora Air Naval Base near Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, as thunderous noises sounded from within the perimeter walls. The Commission for the Study of UFO Phenomena of the Argentine Republic, an organisation dedicated to investigating alleged alien sightings, claimed to have information that there were four UFOs seen attacking the military base. The group said the alien spacecrafts were black and triangular in shape and that Argentine troops fired at them with anti-aircraft weapons. Group spokesperson Andrea Pérez Simondini said witnesses saw “four lights entering the territory from across the ocean before taking a strategic position over one of the buildings where ammunition is stored”. However, the military authorities have denied that the base was under attack and claimed that the videos were faked by unscrupulous locals. Navy spokesperson Captain Germán Luis Zarralanga said their Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopter was taking part in a training exercise that night, but was not involved in any kind of altercation with other aircraft. When discussing the social media footage, the spokesperson said: “It’s an edit. I don’t know what their intentions were. “Airport security and airport workers did not report seeing anything, and everyone at the base was sleeping except for the person piloting the helicopter. There was no type of special activity, no tactical manoeuvres, just a normal helicopter training flight, nothing related to ammunition.” One local commented: “Incredible! How many UFOs? I can't believe it! Amazing. An interplanetary war has begun.” Another said: “Are you telling me that it was one of the first-ever confrontations between humans and UFOs and we shot them down?” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

By Ian Ransom HANGZHOU, China The Afghanistan women's volleyball team has lamented training conditions at the Asian Games

The mother of five knew something was wrong with the rain. The windows of her home in the

China scythed nearly $600 billion off Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s market value in its crackdown on tech and gaming.

Nintendo just added support for passkeys. When you set one up on your account you’ll

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An eclectic list of previous theatrically released movies are making a return to the big screen in October, which appears to be somewhat of a creative solution for a wounded entertainment industry that continues to reel from the dual Hollywood strikes.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, the US Forest Service is looking to hire a smokejumper, a person who parachutes out

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES A NASA space capsule carrying a sample of rocky material plucked from the

Russell Brand has made his first public comments since being accused of rape and sexual assault, thanking followers for "questioning the information they have been presented with" while not addressing the claims.