This is the ominous-looking 'apocalypse asteroid' Bennu (Image: Nasa)
This is the scary-looking ‘apocalypse asteroid’ Bennu (Image: Nasa)

It’s big enough to destroy a city here on Earth and has been dubbed the ‘apocalypse asteroid’.

So you may be surprised to see that a space rock called Bennu is much more beautiful than you might think.

Nasa has just released a new set of pictures of the asteroid snapped by the OSIRIS-Rex probe from a distance of just 0.4 miles above the surface – the closest a spacecraft has ever come to a space object without smashing into it.

Asteroid Bennu is a 500 metre-wide monster which earned its nickname because there’s a very small chance of it hitting us.

‘This is the view from the closest orbit a spacecraft has ever made around a planetary body,’ Nasa wrote.

‘From the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit, half of Bennu is sunlit and half is in shadow. Bennu’s largest boulder can also be seen protruding from the southern hemisphere.’

Nasa releases best ever pictures of 'Apocalypse Asteroid Bennu' The asteroid-orbiting OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has released some of its most detailed images yet of its target, the asteroid Bennu. And they?re breathtaking. The spacecraft took these images on January 17 when it was only a mile (1.6 kilometers) above Bennu?s surface, using its NavCam 1 navigation camera, according to a NASA release. That camera is, as the name suggests, used for keeping track of OSIRIS REx?s orbit around Bennu. Here are the images in full, which show two views of Bennu?s south pole captured with a 1/700 second shutter speed.
The OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft took these images on January 17 (Photo: Nasa/ Goddard/ University of Arizona/ Lockheed Martin)
FILE - This file illustration provided by NASA depicts the Osiris-Rex spacecraft at the asteroid Bennu. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft entered orbit Monday, Dec. 31, 2018, around the asteroid Bennu, 70 million miles (110 million kilometers) from Earth. It???s the smallest celestial body ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. Bennu is just 1,600 feet (500 meters) across. (Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA via AP, File)
Bennua is the smallest celestial body ever to be orbited by a spacecraft (Source: Nasa)
FILE - This file mosaic image composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on Dec. 2, 2018, and provided by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft entered orbit Monday, Dec. 31, 2018, around the asteroid Bennu, 70 million miles (110 million kilometers) from Earth. It???s the smallest celestial body ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. Bennu is just 1,600 feet (500 meters) across. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona via AP, File)
A picture of Bennu released in 2018 (Source: Nasa/ Goddard/ University of Arizona)

It has a 1 in 2,700-chance of striking Earth between 2175 and 2199 – which is really very good odds so there’s probably no need to worry unduly for your great, great grandchildren’s safety.

Osiris-Rex arrived at Bennu in early December and will try to collect samples of the rock in 2020 and attempt to return them to Earth.

It’s also believed Bennu may contain the building blocks of life, so recovering a sample will allow scientists to test a theory that asteroids carried vital chemical to earth which sparked the genesis of living organisms.

But the behemoth could also bring death on a gigantic scale, so the tests will also help to understand our nemesis and how to make sure it doesn’t hit us.

If a disastrous impact came to pass, it would release more energy than all the nuclear weapons detonated in the entirety of human history.

Bennu is as wide as five football fields and weighs around 79 billion kilograms, which is 1,664 times heavier than the Titanic.