(Source from Reuters/Alamy)Brian May
Brian May (76), guitarist and astrophysicist of the legendary British rock band Queen, will publish the world’s first three-dimensional (3D) asteroid map. According to the British Guardian, May co-wrote a 3D asteroid map book, “Benu 3-D: The Structure of Asteroids,” with Professor Dante Loretta of the University of Arizona in the United States. May is a composer and guitarist of Queen’s hit songs such as “We Will Rock You”, but she is also an astrophysicist.He majored in physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, England, and then went on to pursue a Ph.D. in astrophysics from 1970 to 1974, but did not earn a degree due to his Queen activities. Since then, May has received a doctorate in astrophysics with a paper she completed in 30 years in 2007. After serving as president of Liverpool’s John Moors University from 2008 to 2013, he continued his Queen career with Roger Taylor and performed in Korea in 2020.
The book published by May this time contains images and data sent by the asteroid probe “OSIRIS-REx,” which is returning to Earth after collecting samples from the asteroid Bennu, which is considered the first complete 3D asteroid map. The main content of this map is an analysis that can reveal the origin of life such as undisclosed three-dimensional images of Benu and organic compounds, and a portable viewer “Lite Owl” designed by May is also provided to view images in three-dimensional form.
As of 2020, the asteroid Bennu is a small asteroid with a diameter of about 500m and is 334 million kilometers away from Earth. This is five times the distance between Earth and Mars. Launched on September 6, 2016, Osiris-Rex finally succeeded in sampling Benu’s soil and gravel on October 21, 2020, after nearly two years of preparation in orbit around the asteroid Benu from December 31, 2018. Osiris-Rex, who will return to Earth on Sept. 24, will not land directly on Earth, but will drop a capsule containing rock and dust samples collected from Benu into the desert in Utah, the U.S.According to the Guardian, May also participated in the Osiris-Rex mission and worked to convert the original images collected by Osiris-Rex into stereo images. The work has helped scientists find a safe landing site for Osiris-Rex, the Guardian said.Regarding Osiris-Rex’s mission, May said, “We have carried out the most detailed exploration of the asteroid to date,” adding, “Here are the results of the team’s efforts of top scientists and engineers.” “Our goal was to deliver this amazing portrait in a form that both scientists and non-scientists could understand and enjoy,” he added.The asteroid Bennu is also called the “most dangerous asteroid in the solar system” because it has the possibility of colliding with Earth. Osiris-Rex also contributed to estimating the risk of collision between Benu and Earth, and analysis from exploration data estimated that the probability of Benu colliding with Earth by 2300 is about one in 1750th.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
