page_title: 101955 Bennu
section_title: IAU named features
hierarchical_section_title: 101955 Bennu / Physical characteristics / Surface features / IAU named features
caption_attribution_description: English: This flat projection mosaic of asteroid Bennu shows the locations of the first 12 surface features to receive official names from the International Astronomical Union. The accepted names were proposed by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team members, who have been mapping the asteroid in detail over the last year. Bennu’s surface features are named after birds and bird-like creatures in mythology, and the places associated with them. Instrument Used: OCAMS (PolyCam)
context_page_description: 101955 Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group discovered by the LINEAR Project on 11 September 1999. It is a potentially hazardous object that is listed on the Sentry Risk Table with the second-highest cumulative rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale. It has a cumulative 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth between 2175 and 2199. It is named after the Bennu, the ancient Egyptian mythological bird associated with the Sun, creation, and rebirth.
  101955 Bennu has a mean diameter of 490 m and has been observed extensively with the Arecibo Observatory planetary radar and the Goldstone Deep Space Network.
  Bennu is the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission which is intended to return samples to Earth in 2023 for further study. On 3 December 2018, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at Bennu after a two-year journey. Before attempting to obtain a sample from the asteroid, it will map out Bennu's surface in detail and orbit the asteroid to calculate its mass.
  On 18 June 2019, NASA announced that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft managed to get even closer and capture an image at a distance of 600 metres from Bennu's surface.
caption: Global mosaic of Bennu showing the locations of the first 12 named surface features
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