A final flyby for asteroid Bennu and five other top space and science stories this week

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Welcome to Wonder Theory, your weekly summary of space and science.

Within days, robots were reaching milestones in our solar system when researchers here on Earth discovered windows in the early days of humanity. These opposing claims surprise us here at the CNN Space and Science team, especially since they are so common.

By learning how our ancestors created cave art and engraved prehistoric stone maps, these early humans transform from unrelated figures to family members with common ground.

Likewise, the robot researchers we send to planets and asteroids, those rocky time capsules from the past 4.5 billion years, reveal the solar system’s past. These insights spark our curiosity and share not only where we came from, but also what happened long before humans walked the Earth.

Here are some of this week’s amazing explorations and discoveries.

All over the universe

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has been in an orbital dance with the near-Earth asteroid Bennu since its arrival in December 2018, but that meet and greet is about to end. The spacecraft completed a final flyby of the asteroid on Wednesday, coming as close as 3.4 miles to the surface of Bennu.
This artist's concept depicts the flight path of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during its final flyby of asteroid Bennu.

The spacecraft is now drifting away from its two-and-a-half-year-old companion and will take off for Earth on May 10.

Bennu and OSIRIS-REx had a close encounter on October 20, 2020, when the spacecraft briefly hit the surface of the asteroid and retreated. This allowed the spacecraft 2’s sampling arm to collect our material from Bennu that will be returned to Earth in September 2023. The monster could shed more light on the formation of the solar system and how elements such as water may have been supplied to the early Earth by impacts from asteroids.

The images taken by OSIRIS-REx during the last run will reveal the aftermath of the monster collection event in October, which was a messy affair. Expect to see those images and how much Bennu’s surface has been changed by the appointment next week.

A long time ago…

Ancient cave painters may have deliberately sacrificed their ability to breathe to create works of art that make history.

New research on cave paintings from 14,000 to 40,000 years ago in Spain and France has shown that many of these works of art can be found in deep, narrow passageways of cave systems.

The Upper Paleolithic artists would have needed artificial light to see while they worked. Fire is said to have reduced available oxygen, causing hypoxia – releasing dopamine and causing hallucinations, the study said.

The researchers believe this was a conscious decision that helped the artists connect to the world around them and their beliefs – including the cosmos and the underworld.

The miracle

Another week, another rover selfie on Mars – but this one is even more historic. The Perseverance rover took a selfie with the new independent Ingenuity helicopter, which sits in the middle of a Martian airfield and prepares for the first powered controlled flight on another planet.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 4 meters from the rover.
Until April 3, the helicopter was attached to the rover’s belly before taking off Earth. Since the helicopter gently dropped to the surface, it has tapped milestones off its list, including surviving frigid nights on Mars and wobbling its blades.
The helicopter will make its maiden flight on Sunday, and the mission control team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will share the details of this memorable trial at 11 a.m. ET Monday. If you’re an early riser and want to see the first black and white images returned by the helicopter, tune in to NASA’s mission control at JPL on Monday morning from 4:15 a.m. ET.
And then we’ll know how the Wright brothers’ first moment happened on another planet. I hope Ingenuity lives up to its name and has a successful first outing.

Curiosities

According to new research, a Bronze Age stone map may be the oldest depiction of an area in Europe.

The Saint-Bélec Slab, a partially broken piece of stone covered in engraving, was first discovered in 1900 before being forgotten in a museum for about a century.

A recent analysis revealed that the carvings do, in fact, represent 3D images of a valley and rivers similar to the landscape of western Brittany in France, which “ highlights the cartographic knowledge of prehistoric societies, ” said Clément Nicolas, a postdoctoral researcher at the University. from Bournemouth and lead author of the study. .

The slab was originally found on a burial mound in the same region as the one depicted and was probably reused in ancient burials to seal human remains. While the map has not traveled the world, it has served multiple, intriguing purposes.

The climate changed

The arrival of white and pink cherry blossoms, or ‘sakura’, is often a celebrated sign that spring has arrived in Japan, but this year’s early blooms are worrying scientists.

Cherry blossoms are usually associated with April. The flowering trees bloomed early, reaching their peak on March 22 in Tokyo, making it the second earliest bloom on record. They flowered on March 26 in Kyoto – the earliest bloom in the central city in over 1,200 years.

On March 23, a bird is seen next to cherry blossoms in a Tokyo park. The cherry trees started their annual bloom nearly two weeks ahead of schedule.

Warming temperatures around the world are causing an early end to frost and the sudden arrival of spring, causing the flowers to open earlier, the researchers said. Cherry blossoms in Washington, DC, followed a similar pattern.

This could create a ripple effect in ecosystems where plants and insects rely on each other for timing and environmental factors, and have been doing so for thousands of years, including valuable crops.

This early bloom is just the tip of the iceberg of a global phenomenon that could destabilize natural systems and countries’ economies, said Amos Tai, associate professor of Earth System Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Power of nature

Get ready for another wild hurricane season.

Colorado State University on Thursday shared its forecast for an overactive season, which will include 17 named storms, eight hurricanes, and four major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). A typical hurricane system usually has 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecast isn’t expected until May, scientists agree that the Atlantic Ocean will host a busy hurricane season due to the warm ocean surface temperatures and the lack of the calming effects of El Niño, which is the vertical wind shear increases which prevents hurricanes from forming.

If you live in an area prone to hurricanes, start preparing now to have an evacuation plan and an updated evacuation kit before the season starts June 1.
Do you like what you have read? Oh, but there is more. Come back here this Saturday for the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writer Ashley Strickland, which finds wonder in planets outside our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

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