Bennu throws rocks while Enceladus flexes tiger stripes

This week is a week when we will see a whole lot of planetary science enter the feed. Right now, in San Francisco, California Geologists, Geophysicists, and Planetary Scientists are gathered to discuss the latest science involving all things that orbit our Sun.

This week was also supposed to mark the first launch of Boeing’s StarLiner capsule, and Annie, Susie and I are all in on the Space Coast in Florida to see that launch…. Which got delayed until after we’re slated to fly home… so… we’re going to Disney because there we can at least take off on Space Mountain. It’s a weird week. The audio may sound different. The science will go on, and if you want to follow along on our adventures, we’re posting photos on instagram on my account, StarStryder, and when science-related on CosmoQuestX.

But we are here to talk to you about Space, and not Space Mountain, and there is some pretty cool news coming out from the OSIRIS-REx mission. As we’ve mentioned before, Bennu is an asteroid that likes to throw rocks. Soon after the mission arrived at its 500m across space rock they noticed particles getting flung into space and reflecting light back to the cameras. These plumes were completely unexpected. Figuring out how this happens has been one of the unexpected research challenges scientists have faced, and a new article in the journal Science offers 3 possible solutions.

The first possibility is thermal effects leading to things getting ejected. As it rotates every 4.3 hours…