"The First Complete 3D"... 'Queen' Guitarist to Publish Asteroid Atlas

Brian May Creates 3D Model from Probe Images
Earned PhD in Astrophysics in 2007

Brian May (76), the legendary guitarist of the British rock band Queen and an astrophysicist, is set to publish the world's first three-dimensional (3D) asteroid atlas.

According to the British Guardian on the 23rd (local time), May co-authored the 3D asteroid atlas titled 'Bennu 3-D: Structure of an Asteroid' with Professor Dante Loretta from the University of Arizona. May is not only the composer and guitarist of Queen's hit songs such as "We Will Rock You," but also an astrophysicist.

British rock band Queen's guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May
[Photo by EPA Yonhap News]

He majored in physics and mathematics at Imperial College London and pursued a doctoral program in astrophysics from 1970 to 1974 but did not obtain a degree due to his activities with Queen. Later, May earned his PhD in astrophysics in 2007 with a thesis completed after 30 years. Serving as the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013, he continues his activities with Queen alongside Roger Taylor and held a concert in Korea in 2020.

The book May published this time contains images and data sent by the asteroid probe 'OSIRIS-REx,' which collected samples from the asteroid Bennu and is returning to Earth. It is regarded as the first complete 3D asteroid atlas. The atlas mainly features unpublished 3D stereoscopic images of Bennu and analyses that could reveal the origins of life, such as organic compounds. It also includes a portable viewer designed by May called 'Lite Owl,' allowing images to be viewed in three-dimensional form.

Asteroid Bennu [Image source=Yonhap News]

The asteroid Bennu is a small asteroid about 500 meters in diameter, located approximately 334 million kilometers from Earth as of 2020. This distance is five times the distance between Earth and Mars.

Launched on September 6, 2016, OSIRIS-REx orbited asteroid Bennu for nearly two years starting December 31, 2018, preparing to collect samples, and finally succeeded in collecting soil and gravel samples from Bennu on October 21, 2020. OSIRIS-REx, returning to Earth on September 24, will not land directly on Earth but will drop a capsule containing rock and dust samples collected from Bennu into the desert of Utah, USA.

May also participated in the OSIRIS-REx mission

According to the Guardian, May also participated in the OSIRIS-REx mission by converting the original images collected by OSIRIS-REx into stereo images. This work helped scientists find safe landing sites for OSIRIS-REx, the Guardian reported.

Regarding the OSIRIS-REx mission, May said, "It is the most detailed exploration of an asteroid to date," adding, "This is the result of the efforts of a team composed of top scientists and engineers." He continued, "Our goal was to deliver this amazing portrait in a form that both scientists and non-scientists can understand and enjoy."

The asteroid Bennu is also called "the most dangerous asteroid in the solar system" due to its potential collision with Earth. OSIRIS-REx contributed to estimating the collision risk between Bennu and Earth, and analysis of the exploration data estimated the probability of Bennu colliding with Earth by the year 2300 to be about 1 in 1,750.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.