Space

Telescope trio captures 10,000-km tail in asteroid impact aftermath

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Artist's concept of DART approaching target
NASA
Artist's concept of DART approaching target
NASA
A series of Hubble images of the Didymos system taken at different intervals after the DART spacecraft impact
Science: NASA, ESA, Jian-Yang Li (PSI); Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
An animated timelapse of James Webb images of the Didymos system after the DART spacecraft impact
Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Cristina Thomas (Northern Arizona University), Ian Wong (NASA-GSFC); Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
An image taken by the SOAR telescope that captures the 10,000-km (6,000-mile)-long tail that has grown behind the Didymos system after the DART spacecraft collision
National Science Foundation/NOIRLab
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Last week, NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in an event witnessed by millions of people around the world. It turns out we weren’t the only ones watching – a suite of telescopes was also monitoring the collision and its aftermath, including Hubble and James Webb in their first collaboration.

The DART mission was a test run for an experimental planetary defense system. By smashing the spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos, scientists hope to have changed its orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos – a plan that could be enacted if we were to ever discover an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

Along with the exciting close-up views of DART’s last moments from the spacecraft itself and a nearby CubeSat, a range of other telescopes captured the collision from much farther away. That includes NASA stalwart Hubble and the newly launched James Webb Space Telescope, marking the first time these two iconic eyes-in-the-sky have observed the same thing at the same time.

An animated timelapse of James Webb images of the Didymos system after the DART spacecraft impact
Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, Cristina Thomas (Northern Arizona University), Ian Wong (NASA-GSFC); Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Webb imaged the asteroid with its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) once just before impact, then gathered another nine images over the five hours post-impact. The resulting visuals clearly show a rapid brightening at the point of impact, with wisps of material streaming away into space.

A series of Hubble images of the Didymos system taken at different intervals after the DART spacecraft impact
Science: NASA, ESA, Jian-Yang Li (PSI); Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Meanwhile, Hubble snapped 45 images of the event in visible light, using its Wide Field Camera 3. Images taken between 22 minutes and 8.2 hours after impact showed the system became three times brighter afterwards, and the glow lasted a surprisingly long time. On the left-hand side of the image – the general direction that DART approached from – the ejected material forms a fan shape.

An image taken by the SOAR telescope that captures the 10,000-km (6,000-mile)-long tail that has grown behind the Didymos system after the DART spacecraft collision
National Science Foundation/NOIRLab

And finally, the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope in Chile snapped the Didymos system two days after impact. This striking image shows a long dust trail has grown out behind the asteroid, giving it the appearance of a comet. Incredibly, the team estimates that it now stretches for more than 10,000 km (6,000 miles).

All three telescopes, as well as other observatories, will continue to monitor the Didymos system in the coming weeks and months. Hopefully we’ll know soon how successful the DART mission was in nudging the asteroid’s orbit.

Sources: NASA, NOIRLab

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