Home > Asteroid, Ephemeris Program, NASA > Ephemeris: 09/26/2023 – I’ve got some asteroid news today

Ephemeris: 09/26/2023 – I’ve got some asteroid news today

September 26, 2023

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 7:33, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:35. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 4:59 tomorrow morning.

I’ve got some asteroid news today. It’s good news. Two days ago, Sunday the 24th the OSIRIS REx return capsule landed in Utah with its precious cargo of rock and dust from the asteroid Bennu. And as of the time I’m recording this, I don’t know what was in the capsule. Although when they captured the material from Bennu they actually captured much more than they thought they would get, and had trouble closing the cover on the collection device.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the DART spacecraft’s collision with the small asteroid satellite Dimorphos. The latest news is that the original increase in the period of the orbit around Didymos by 33 minutes increased by another minute since. Nobody seems to know exactly why.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

As they say in gymnastics, the OSIRIS REx sample return capsule stuck the landing. This is due to recent rains having softened up the ground and low winds, so it didn’t topple over further on its heat shield. The capsule is now in Houston about to be opened and the samples analyzed. Credit: NASA.
The orbit Psyche the spacecraft will take to drop into orbit of Psyche the asteroid. Credit: NASA/JPL.
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