NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Command Team at Johns Hopkins University
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) command team at Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory are shown monitoring the DART spacecraft's impact into the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. The operation was the first of its kind test dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.
DART’s target, the asteroid Dimorphos, orbits a larger near-Earth asteroid called Didymos. Before the impact, Dimorphos had a roughly symmetrical “oblate spheroid” shape – like a squashed ball that is wider than it is tall. With a well-defined, circular orbit at a distance of about 3,900 feet (1,189 meters) from Didymos, Dimorphos took 11 hours and 55 minutes to complete one loop around Didymos. DART's impact changed the shape of Dimorphos, its orbit, and its orbital period.
Credit: NASA/Dave C. Bowman
Image Number: LRC-2022-0926-H1_P_DART-000426
Date: September 26, 2022
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Command Team at Johns Hopkins University
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) command team at Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory are shown monitoring the DART spacecraft's impact into the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. The operation was the first of its kind test dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.
DART’s target, the asteroid Dimorphos, orbits a larger near-Earth asteroid called Didymos. Before the impact, Dimorphos had a roughly symmetrical “oblate spheroid” shape – like a squashed ball that is wider than it is tall. With a well-defined, circular orbit at a distance of about 3,900 feet (1,189 meters) from Didymos, Dimorphos took 11 hours and 55 minutes to complete one loop around Didymos. DART's impact changed the shape of Dimorphos, its orbit, and its orbital period.
Credit: NASA/Dave C. Bowman
Image Number: LRC-2022-0926-H1_P_DART-000426
Date: September 26, 2022