Dimorphos

When NASA's DART deep space probe smashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, it didn't leave a crater. Instead, there was a splash, where the asteroid was distorted like a jelly as its entire structure shifted.The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was certainly spectacular. Crashing a half-tonne spacecraft into an asteroid at 3.8 miles per second (6.1 km/s) is pretty cool in the fireworks department, but this cosmic smackdown had a very serious purpose.Thousands of meteors strike the Earth's atmosphere every day. Most of…

In September 2022, a NASA spacecraft smashed into a tiny asteroid to nudge it off its orbital course. The mission was a success in testing an asteroid deflection method that may come in handy one day, but rather than leaving behind an impact crater, the orbital collision changed the shape of the target asteroid altogether, revealing its fungible composition. Dave Bautista Opens Up About His Relationship With Denis VilleneuveA team of researchers simulated the impact of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, to…

This Hubble Space Telescope image of the asteroid Dimorphos was taken on December 19, 2022, nearly four months after the asteroid was impacted by NASA’s DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). Hubble’s sensitivity reveals a few dozen boulders knocked off the asteroid by the force of the collision. These are among the faintest objects Hubble has ever photographed inside the solar system. The free-flung boulders range in size from three feet to 22 feet across, based on Hubble photometry. They are drifting away from…

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected nearly 40 boulders near Dimorphos—the target of NASA’s wildly successful DART experiment to deflect a non-threatening asteroid. This isn’t exactly positive news, since it suggests that hitting a bona fide hazardous asteroid might create a cluster of possibly dangerous boulders advancing towards Earth.Inspiration Behind Immortal Longings | io9 InterviewI’m inclined to frame this as a good news, bad news sort of thing. The good news is that the Hubble Space…

Hollywood has depicted the apocalypse, with movies such as Deep Impact, Armageddon, and Don't Look Up exploring the hypothetical scenarios of global annihilation through the collision of asteroids with Earth. NASA has already provided an answer for those who have wondered about the consequences of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.Last year, NASA carried out its first ever planetary defense test by smashing a spacecraft into an approaching asteroid with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) to alter its…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Hubble Space Telescope captured a series of photos of asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by a 1,200-pound NASA spacecraft called DART on September 26, 2022, according to their statement.Hubble's time-lapse movie of the aftermath of DART's collision reveals surprising and remarkable, hour-by-hour changes as dust and chunks of debris were flung into space, NASA said in their statement.Smashing head on into the asteroid at 13,000 miles per hour, the DART…

Aerospace company Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an electron rocket mid-air using just a helicopter in a daring mission called ‘Catch me if you can’. The year 2022 has been the year of milestones in space tech. First, the NASA James Webb Space Telescope became operational and began sending us images of the universe from unimaginable distances. Scientists have been able to glimpse at the farthest galaxy, oldest star cluster and more. Then, in August, NASA sent a spacecraft to crash into the asteroid Dimorphos to test…

NASA, ESA, STScI, Jian-Yang Li (PSI); Image Processing: Joseph DePasqualeLast month, NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into the Dimorphos asteroid in its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. Since impact, telescopes have captured images of the fascinating aftermath. New Hubble images show that the asteroid grew not only one, but two tails. A week after the impact, the SOAR Telescope in Chile captured an image of the Dimorphos asteroid which showcased one tail, a comet-like bright streak of dust,…

The US space agency has confirmed that when its spacecraft smashed into an asteroid last month, it altered its orbit by 32 minutes, calling it a "watershed moment" for planetary defence.This marks humanity's first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.After 10 months of flying in space, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) -- the world's first planetary defence technology demonstration -- successfully impacted its…

NASA on Tuesday celebrated exceeding expectations during a mission to deflect a distant asteroid, in a sci-fi like test of humanity's ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos, NASA chief Bill Nelson announced.That changed its orbital period by four percent, or 32 minutes — from 11…