Bennu samples may contain a mix of the ingredients for life.<\/strong> The first in-depth analyses of the asteroid material collected by NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx sample return mission suggest that Bennu contains amino acids, nucleobases, and other key building blocks of life as we know it. If the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early Solar System, this could mean that life may be more likely to have formed elsewhere as well. Pictured: Project scientist Jason Dworkin holds up a vial containing part of the sample from asteroid Bennu. Image credit: NASA\/James Tralie.<\/i><\/p>\n Blue Ghost is keeping busy on its way to the Moon.<\/strong> Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost mission, which is part of NASA\u2019s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, is midway through its 45-day transit to the Moon. As it travels, it is conducting science operations and observations, including recording footage of Earth eclipsing the Sun.<\/p>\n A newly discovered exoplanet moves in and out of its star\u2019s habitable zone.<\/strong> HD 20794d is a super-Earth with an elliptical orbit that appears to take it farther from its star than Mars is from the Sun and then as close as Venus. This brings it in and out of the region where liquid water would be possible on the planet\u2019s surface, providing a potentially interesting study of the limits of planetary habitability.<\/p>\n BepiColombo recorded sound as it flew past Mercury.<\/strong> The European Space Agency spacecraft recently made its sixth and final flyby of Mercury, using the planet\u2019s gravity to adjust its trajectory. BepiColombo captured audio of vibrations in the spacecraft, which changed as it passed into Mercury\u2019s shadow and closer to its gravitational field.<\/p>\n Juno has spotted Io\u2019s most powerful volcanic activity yet.<\/strong> NASA\u2019s Jupiter orbiter recently discovered a volcanic hot spot in the southern hemisphere of the Jovian moon. Io is already known as the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, and this new discovery makes the little moon all the more extreme \u2014 the hot spot is larger than Earth\u2019s Lake Superior and has eruptions that yield six times as much energy as all the world\u2019s power plants combined.<\/p>\n An asteroid has a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032.<\/strong> The European Space Agency\u2019s Planetary Defense Office reported this week that the recently discovered near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 is predicted to pass close by Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. While the asteroid has an almost 99% chance of safely passing our planet, scientists say that they can\u2019t yet entirely rule out a possible impact and are continuing to monitor the asteroid\u2019s trajectory. Learn more about the asteroid and what this threat level means.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Moon\"](\"https:\/\/planetary.s3.amazonaws.com\/sites\/planetary\/images\/image_library_moon.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"exoplanet\"](\"https:\/\/planetary.s3.amazonaws.com\/assets\/images\/image_library_exoplanet.png\")
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