Study explores how asteroid Bennu could contain material from different parts of the solar system
Samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission appear to raise a question about the asteroid’s origins. A paper by researchers at ETH Zurich and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory examines why Bennu’s material may indicate formation in both the inner and outer solar system, and considers a possible role for Jupiter.
Samples collected from asteroid (101955) Bennu and returned to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx mission have prompted researchers to revisit the asteroid’s history. A new paper examines evidence suggesting that Bennu may contain material associated with both the inner and outer solar system.
The research was published in Science Advances by scientists from ETH Zurich and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Its focus is a question raised by analysis of the returned sample: how could an asteroid appear to have been formed from material originating in two different regions of the early solar system?
The source report identifies Jupiter as a possible factor in explaining that apparent mixed origin. It does not provide further details about the proposed mechanism or state that Jupiter’s role has been established.
The Bennu samples are described as unusually valuable because asteroid sample-return missions provide preserved material from the early solar system that was not altered by atmospheric entry as a fireball. The findings therefore add an unresolved question to the scientific study of Bennu’s composition and origin.
THE QUESTIONS THIS EVENT LEAVES BEHIND
What specific evidence in the Bennu samples led researchers to associate the material with both the inner and outer solar system?
How does the paper explain Jupiter’s possible role in moving or mixing material?
What alternative explanations for Bennu’s apparent mixed origin were considered?
How representative is Bennu’s sample of the material found across similar asteroids?
What future observations or sample analyses could distinguish among competing explanations?
YOUR QUESTION
Does this story leave you with another question?
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GLOBAL CURIOSITY MAP · SEPTEMBER 2026