The historic clash the DART spacecraft against the asteroid Dimorphos, organized by the POT as proof of Earth’s defense, it was stronger than expected. This thanks to the images shown by the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes.
The ship DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test, for its acronym in English) it was a box with structures 1.8 meters wide, 1.9 meters long and 2.6 meters high that crashed at 6.1 kilometers per second against Dimorphos.
This 160-meter asteroid was next to another larger one, named Didymos, both located 11 million kilometers from Earth.
The images taken by the telescopes they showed a large cloud of dust after impact.
The challenge of observing the space crash
Observing the impact with Webb presented NASA’s science, planning and flight operations teams with unique challenges, given the speed of the asteroid’s journey through the sky.
According to the agency, “As DART neared its target, teams did additional work in the weeks leading up to impact to enable and test a method of tracking asteroids moving three times faster than the original speed limit set for Webb.” .
While the Hubble Telescope showed the impact in visible light, with beam-like ejecta extending from the asteroid’s body. The boldest ejection peak and displayed to the left of the asteroid It’s in the general direction from which the DART craft came.
NASA and ESA value what was captured in the DART crash with Dimorphos
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson spoke about the Webb and Hubble images of the spacecraft crashing into the asteroid.
“Webb and Hubble show what we’ve always known at NASA: We learn more when we work together. For the first time, Webb and Hubble simultaneously captured images of the same target in the cosmos: an asteroid that was struck by a spacecraft after a journey of 11 million kilometers.”
“All of humanity,” adds Nelson in a statement from the US space agency, “eagerly awaits the discoveries that will come from Webb, Hubble and our ground-based telescopes on the DART Mission and beyond.”
AFP spoke with Ian Carnelli, Director of ESA’s Hera Mission. He called the Hubble and Webb images “really impressive,” showing “an impact that looks much bigger than we expected.”
“I was really worried that there wouldn’t be any Dimorphos left,” Carnelli said.
The Hera Mission, scheduled for October 2024, will reach the asteroid Dimorphos in 2026, to inspect the crater left by DART. It is possible that it measures much more than the expected 10 meters in diameter.
“If there is a crater,” Carnelli said, “maybe a piece of Dimorphos has broken off.”