NASA captures incredible close-up shot of plumes of dust leaving an asteroid

NASA has captured an incredible close-up shot of plumes of dust and rocks erupting from the surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu as it spins through the solar system. Researchers from the University of Arizona have been studying the images taken by the navigation camera on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The high-resolution images were taken as part of a NASA mission to bring samples of the asteroid - that is about 300,000miles away - back to Earth for scientists to study. These images offer a detailed look at small-scale rock and particle loss from an active asteroid for the first time, say researchers. Previous studies have been limited to only the largest ejections seen from Earth. More than 20,000 known near-Earth asteroids are travelling around the solar system at any given time according to NASA.