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Vicinity of small bodies might be dangerous to the spacecrafts and to their instrumentation. Here the authors show the operational environment of asteroid Bennu, validate its photometric phase function and demonstrate the accelerating rotational rate due to YORP effect using the data acquired during the approach phase of OSIRIS-REx mission.

Bennu’s surface presents evidence of a variety of particle sizes, from fine regolith to metre-sized boulders. Its moderate thermal inertia suggests that the boulders are very porous or blanketed by thin dust. Bennu’s boulders exhibit high albedo variations, indicating different origins and/or ages.

Signatures of phyllosilicate-like hydrated minerals are widespread on Bennu’s surface, indicating significant aqueous alteration. The lack of spatial variations in the spectra down to the scale of ~100 m indicates both a relatively uniform particle size distribution and a lack of compositional segregation, possibly due to surficial redistribution processes.

The shape and internal structure of bilobate comet 67P is controlled by shear deformation inducing mechanically driven erosion along shear fracture networks, according to a 3D analysis of images from the Rosetta mission.

Peptide arrays are used in areas such as measuring protein-protein interactions, but achieving high density in synthesis is challenging. Here, the authors report a method for the combinatorial synthesis of high density peptides arrays by laser driven sequential transfer of monomers onto acceptor surfaces.

Bennu’s surface has experienced continuous changes, mostly induced by its accelerating spin rate, which could have resulted in a collapse of its interior in the past. This scenario is also supported by the heterogeneity of Bennu’s internal mass distribution.

Near-Earth asteroid Bennu has a top-like shape with longitudinal ridges, macroporosity, prominent boulders and surface mass wasting, suggesting that it is a stiff rubble pile, according to early observations by the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Near-Earth rubble-pile asteroid Bennu has an unexpectedly old surface, with numerous candidate impact craters and morphologically diverse boulders, according to early observations by the OSIRIS-REx mission.

A bright outburst of activity from the nucleus of comet 67P, observed by Rosetta in July 2015, is traced back to a cliff that partially collapsed at the same time as the outburst, establishing a link between the two events. The collapse has also exposed the fresh ice present under the surface.

A refined analysis of infrared observations of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko from the VIRTIS instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft has revealed the presence of aliphatic organic molecules on the comet nucleus.

Images of 67P's nucleus from the Rosetta spacecraft, together with numerical simulations, show that the jet-like features of cometary comae can be produced by diffuse activity focused by the nucleus topography as well as non-uniform insolation over the surface.

Using infrared wavelengths, micrometre-sized water-ice grains have been identified on the nucleus (which is mostly coated in a dark material) of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

The size and spatial distribution of pits on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, which are active and probably created by a sinkhole process, imply that large heterogeneities exist in the physical, structural or compositional properties of the first few hundred metres below the current cometary surface.

Observations of water ice on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko show the ice appearing and disappearing in a cyclic pattern that follows local illumination conditions, providing a source of localized activity and leading to cycling modification of the ice abundance on the surface.

The peculiar object P/2010 A2, discovered in January 2010, is in an asteroidal orbit in the inner main asteroid belt and was given a cometary designation because of the presence of a trail of material. These authors report observations of P/2010 A2 by the Rosetta spacecraft. They conclude that the trail arose from a single event, an asteroid collision that occurred around 10 February 2009.

The ‘onion-like’ stratification of the two lobes of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko reveals that its unusual shape is the result of a gentle collision merging two kilometre-sized objects in the early stages of the Solar System.

Six bright boulders of exotic material on near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu stand out from the average asteroidal surface. This unexpected record of impactors offers clues to the formation history of Bennu.

Observations of asteroid (101955) Bennu with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft reveal an unexpected surficial diversity that poses a challenge to the success of the sample-return mission.

Observations of a stellar occultation by (10199) Chariklo, a minor body that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune, reveal that it has a ring system, a property previously observed only for the four giant planets of the Solar System.