Bennu, the asteroid currently being explored by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, will have its various features named after mythological birds and ‘bird-like creatures,’ according to NASA.
The decision was made by the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature and NASA.
A variety of features on the asteroid will be named, including craters, rocks, boulders, trenches, grooves, ridges, and peaks.
Asteroid 101955 Bennu is a rocky carbonaceous asteroid that was discovered in late 1999.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which was launched in September 2016, will spend months studying the asteroid before ultimately descending to collect a 60g sample from the space rock’s surface.
At this point in time, the Bennu mission team has been tasked with finding potential sample sites.