14 DAY TRIAL // In a brand new animated video that's just been posted online, NASA scientists explain how something as simple as sunlight can influence the orbit of the asteroids that populate our Solar System.
It all starts when, after bathing in sunlight for quite a while, a side of an asteroid moves into complete darkness instead. What this means is that is goes from being hot to being cool.
This cooling down involves a release of radiation, which in turn acts as a nature-made thruster of sorts that alters the space rock's orbit ever so slightly. All it takes to change an asteroid's orbit is a few such gentle nudges.
“This force, called the Yarkovsky effect, can cause rotating asteroids to drift widely over time, making it hard for scientists to predict their long-term risk to Earth,” researchers explain.
Come 2016, NASA plans to send a probe called OSIRIS-REx to visit a nearby asteroid by the name of Bennu. Should all go well, the spacecraft will reach its target sometime in 2018.
Apart from studying its orbit as it journeys through the Solar System in an attempt to determine what influences it, OSIRIS-REx will be entrusted with retrieving samples from Bennu's surface and delivering them to Earth.
