Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) investigation team shows the spacecraft’s kinetic impact with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit. This marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology. Images such as the below helped scientists understand the orbit change resulting from DART’s impact.
This movie uses images from the LUKE camera on ASI’s LICIACube, captured just after the impact of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART, spacecraft with the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, 2022. The video begins with LICIACube around 500 miles away from the asteroid, passes by, and then continues to around 200 miles away. The video clearly shows the ejection of material streaming off of Dimorphos due to the impact.
ASI/NASA
ASI’s LICIACube satellite acquired this image just after its closest approach to the Dimorphos asteroid, after the Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART mission, made impact on Sep. 26, 2022. In this image, it is possible to observe the Didymos and Dimorphos from a different perspective, which can be useful to determine the shapes of the asteroids.
ASI/NASA
ASI’s LICIACube satellite acquired this image just after its closest approach to the Dimorphos asteroid, after the Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART mission, made impact on Sep. 26, 2022. In this image, it is possible to observe the Didymos and Dimorphos from a different perspective, which can be useful to determine the shapes of the asteroids.
u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: ASI/NASAu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e
Astronomers using the NSF’s NOIRLab’s SOAR telescope in Chile captured the vast plume of dust and debris blasted from the surface of the asteroid Dimorphos by NASA’s DART spacecraft when it impacted on 26 September 2022. In this image, the more than 10,000 kilometer long dust trail — the ejecta that has been pushed away by the Sun’s radiation pressure, not unlike the tail of a comet — can be seen stretching from the center to the right-hand edge of the field of view.
CTIO/NOIRLab/SOAR/NSF/AURA/T. Ka
This imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope from Oct. 8, 2022, shows the debris blasted from the surface of Dimorphos 285 hours after the asteroid was intentionally impacted by NASA’s DART spacecraft on Sept. 26. The shape of that tail has changed over time. Scientists are continuing to study this material and how it moves in space, in order to better understand the asteroid.
NASA/ESA/STScI/Hubble
This animation showing a highly magnified view of how Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos is seen from Earth, approximately one week after the DART impact. Each time around the orbit, Dimorphos passes through the shadow cast by Didymos, and half an orbit later, briefly casts a shadow onto Didymos. In reality, only the combined light from both asteroids can be seen by telescopes. The graph shows how the total brightness dips slightly when either body is shadowed by the other. DART astronomers measure the time intervals between the dips that mark these eclipse events in order to determine the new period of the orbit.
NASA/APL/UMD
This chart offers insight into data the DART team used to determine the orbit of Dimorphos after impact – specifically, small reductions in brightness due to eclipses of Didymos and Dimorphos. The new observations show the Dimorphos eclipses occur at different times (green arrows) than if the period were unchanged (gray arrows). The top timeline shows observations the DART team used to determine Dimorphos’ new orbital period, with two sets of that data (from Sept. 29, 2022, and Oct. 4, 2022) shown in detail. The observed decreases in relative brightness for each night’s dataset correspond to Dimorphos eclipses from a new orbital period of 11 hours and 23 minutes – demonstrating that the eclipse timing differs from pre-impact period of 11 hours and 55 minutes.
NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic/Lowell Observatory/JPL/Las Cumbres Observatory/Las Campanas Observatory/European Southern Observatory Danish (1.54-m) telescope/University of Edinburgh/The Open University/Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción/Seoul National Observatory/Universidad de Antofagasta/Universität Hamburg/Northern Arizona University
The bright line across the middle of these images, shows the asteroid Didymos. The images are views of the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system obtained from radar facilities at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Shown at left are Oct. 4, 2022, observations from Goldstone observations; at right are combined Goldstone and Green Bank observations from Oct. 9, 2022.
u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatoryu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e
The yellow box shows the asteroid Didymos. The images are views of the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system obtained from radar facilities at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Shown at left are Oct. 4, 2022, observations from Goldstone observations; at right are combined Goldstone and Green Bank observations from Oct. 9, 2022.
u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatoryu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e
The green circle shows the location of the Dimorphos asteroid, which orbits the larger asteroid, Didymos, seen here as the bright line across the middle of the images. The images show the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system obtained from radar facilities at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Shown at left are Oct. 4, 2022, observations from Goldstone observations; at right are combined Goldstone and Green Bank observations from Oct. 9, 2022.
u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatoryu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e
The green circle shows the location of the Dimorphos asteroid, which orbits the larger asteroid, Didymos, seen here as the bright line across the middle of the images. The blue circle shows where Dimorphos would have been had its orbit not changed due to NASA’s DART mission purposefully impacting the smaller asteroid on Sept. 26, 2022. The images show the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system obtained from radar facilities at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Shown at left are Oct. 4, 2022, observations from Goldstone observations; at right are combined Goldstone and Green Bank observations from Oct. 9, 2022.
u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatoryu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e
The images show a series of radar images captured at different times on Oct. 9, 2022, of the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system obtained from radar facilities at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Dimorphos, the smaller of the two asteroids, is circled in green. Didymos is seen as the brighter stripe across the middle.
u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatoryu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e
This image from ASI’s LICIACube show the plumes of ejecta streaming from the Dimorphos asteroid after NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART, mission, made impact with it on Sept. 26, 2022. Each rectangle represents a different level of contrast in order to better see fine structure in the plumes. By studying these streams of material, we will be able to learn more about the asteroid and the impact process.
Credits: ASI/NASA/APL
