This is the Last Thing DART saw as it Smashed Into its Asteroid Target By Nancy_A
Dimorphos is a small asteroid moonlet, just 530 feet in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot asteroid called Didymos. Neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth, and the impact should change the way Dimorphos orbits Didymos, making the duo the perfect target for this test. NASA says that DART’s impact demonstrates a viable mitigation technique for protecting the planet from an Earth-bound asteroid or comet, if one were discovered.
DART launched on November 24, 2021, and after 10 months of flying about 7 million miles and crashed into the asteroid at roughly 14,000 miles per hour, which is expected to have slightly slowed the asteroid’s orbital speed.Our lead image shows what DART’s camera saw 2 seconds and 12 km away before impact, showing the asteroid to be a rubble pile, with enormous boulders.
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