We’ve spotted a huge asteroid spinning impossibly fast

Artist’s depiction of the asteroid 2025 MN45 NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC​/AURA/P. Marenfeld The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has spotted the fastest-rotating large asteroid ever seen. Despite measuring more than half a kilometre across, this asteroid spins about once every 1.9 minutes – a speed once thought to be impossible. Dmitrii Vavilov at…

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Solving Asteroid Bennu's Mysteries - NASA

Solving Asteroid Bennu’s Mysteries – NASA

These X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans released on March 17, 2026, give us a glimpse inside asteroid Bennu. They show the most common types of crack networks observed in Bennu samples; these networks solved a mystery that baffled NASA for years. When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft first approached asteroid Bennu in 2018, scientists expected to see smooth, sandy beach-like surfaces. Instead, they…

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