They publish the first images of the moment of the impact of DART on the asteroid Dimorphos

by time news

After ten months of flying in space, the dart mission he finally achieved his goal early on Tuesday: finish his ‘kamikaze’ flight over the asteroid Dimorphos and show that humanity is prepared to deflect one of these space rocks in case the Earth is in any danger. Although in real time NASA offered images of the impact -taken from the ‘suicide’ ship itself-, little by little new points of view and photographs taken by other instruments are emerging.

One of the most anticipated are the files captured by LICIACube, the probe that traveled with the DART spacecraft to separate fifteen days before and position itself as an exceptional witness during the crash. Not even 24 hours had to wait for the Italian Space Agency (ASI), to have made public the first appetizer, which shows just the moment of impact.

The upper light point is Dimorphos at the moment of impact. In the foreground, below, Didymos

ASI/NASA

In the images, it can be seen how a large amount of dust is released from Dimorphos (about 160 meters in diameter) during the operation, throwing multiple jets of material into space. Beneath the irregular figure of Dimorphos can be seen Didymosthe asteroid almost five times larger (although from the perspective of LICIA-Cube it is not appreciated, it is around 780 meters long) on ​​which the rock now hit by the DART mission orbits.

This image shows the enormous amount of dust thrown into space during the collision

ASI/NASA

“At 4:23 a.m. Italian time, the first historical photos that testify to the impact of NASA’s Dart probe against the asteroid Dimorphos, 11 million kilometers away, arrived at the Turin Control Center,” they say in a statement from SO. “The images were taken by the Luke and Leia cameras aboard the LICIACube, which immortalize the impact of NASA’s DART probe.”

Other ‘eyes’ were also attentive to the impact, such as the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, as well as ground-based observatories. Among the most striking examples are the images captured by the telescopes of the Asteroid Earth-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), based in Hawaii. In the video you can see the cloud of debris left by DART after the impact.

Also from South Africa, in a privileged place during the impact, a telescope from the national astronomical observatory also allows us to see the exact seconds of the collision.

Just like the Virtual Telescope, which has gotten an impact sequence.

In the coming hours and days, even more images are expected to reveal more secrets about the impact of humanity’s first planetary defense mission.

An unprecedented mission

“DART represents an unprecedented success for planetary defense, but it is also a unity mission with real benefit to all of humanity,” said NASA administrator Dr. Bill Nelson. “As we study the cosmos and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this international collaboration turned science fiction into science fact, demonstrating a way to protect Earth.”

The research team will now observe Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that the DART impact has altered the asteroid’s orbit around Didymos. The researchers expect the impact to shorten Dimorphos’s orbit by about 1%, or about 10 minutes; Accurately measuring how far the asteroid drifted is one of the main purposes of the large-scale test.

In about four years, the hera missionfrom the European Space Agency, will carry out detailed studies of both Dimorphos and Didymos, focusing primarily on the crater left by the DART collision, as well as precise measurement of Dimorphos’ mass and composition.

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