NASA has captured its closest and most-detailed image yet of Bennu, a 78 billion kilogram asteroid which makes a close approach to Earth every six years.
The image was captured by the US space agency's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on June 13, showing half of the rock brightened by sunlight while the other half sits in the shadows.
Bennu's largest boulder is also visible, protruding from the southern hemisphere.
This is the second time the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has put itself into orbit around the asteroid, snapping a shot at a distance of 0.4 miles from the asteroid's surface.
Researchers observing Bennu said the view is the closest orbit a spacecraft has ever made around a small planetary body in our solar system, breaking its own record set late in December in which it came as close as 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles).
OSIRIS-REx - which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Regolith Explorer - arrived at Bennu on December 3, after launching from Earth in September 2016.
Asteroids, which orbit the sun but are much smaller than planets, are among the oldest objects in the solar system and could provide answers about how Earth evolved.
It is believed that Bennu was originally part of a much larger asteroid which it broke away from around 700 million to two billion years ago.
Scientists claim Bennu has a 1 in 2,700 chance of striking Earth next century, between the years 2175 and 2199.
If the asteroid does hit our planet, it is estimated that the kinetic energy of this impact would be equivalent to 1,200 megatons - 80,000 times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb.
