{"id":37003,"date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&#038;p=37003"},"modified":"2023-03-30T09:02:40","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T09:02:40","slug":"dart-successfully-impacts-asteroid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/10\/20\/dart-successfully-impacts-asteroid\/","title":{"rendered":"DART successfully impacts asteroid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"has-text-align-center article-standfirst\"><span class=\"has-inline-color has-ccp-primary-dark-color\">BULLETIN <\/span><\/h5>\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center\">DART successfully impacts asteroid<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center intro\"><span style=\"\">NASA\u2019s planetary defence strategy takes a step forward<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"no-tts wp-block-purple-slider is-cropped\" data-autoplay=\"true\" data-speed=\"300\" data-effect=\"fade\"><li class=\"no-tts blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img src=\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/liciacube_luke_l0_1664234221_00000_01_rgb_zoom_flip_preview.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"37678\" data-link=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?attachment_id=37678\"\/><figcaption>Clouds of ejecta spray from Dimorphos after the strike, as seen by the Italian Space Agency\u2019s LICIACube <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"no-tts blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img src=\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"37679\" data-link=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?attachment_id=37679\"\/><figcaption>The DART team celebrate the impact<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"no-tts blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img src=\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/dart-impact_preview.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"37677\" data-link=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?attachment_id=37677\"\/><figcaption>Chile\u2019s SOAR telescope captured this 10,000km trail of debris streaming from the distant moonlet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap article-full-body sans-serif\">Could humanity save itself from a killer asteroid? On 26 September, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission took us one step closer to taking on the challenge when it slammed into space rock Dimorphos at a speed of 22,530km\/h (over 6km\/s). Confirmation of the impact reached Earth at 7:14pm EDT (11:14pm UT), when the signal cut out halfway through sending back its final image. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\">Launched on 24 November 2021, DART\u2019s destination was Dimorphos, a 160-metre-wide \u2018moon\u2019 orbiting the larger Didymos. Though DART\u2019s camera was only able to target Dimorphos in the last hour of its mission, it transmitted images of its journey right up until the last moment. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\">\u201cAs we were getting close there was both joy and terror,\u201d said Elena Adams, DART\u2019s systems engineer. \u201cWe had no idea what to expect \u2013 we didn\u2019t even know what shape the asteroid was.\u201d <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\">The impact was also witnessed by Italy\u2019s asteroid- imaging spacecraft LICIACube, which flew past Dimorphos about three minutes later and captured the cloud of ejecta thrown up by the impact.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\">The goal is to shorten Dimorphos\u2019s orbit around Didymos, currently 11 hours 55 minutes, by around 10 minutes. Given enough time, even a change that small could alter the path of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, should one ever be discovered. Over the next two months, ground and space observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope, will scrutinise the system to confirm how much its orbit has changed. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\">\u201cAs far as we can tell, our first planetary defence test was a success,\u201d said Adams. \u201cEarthlings should sleep a little better. I definitely will.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/dart.jhuapl.edu\">dart.jhuapl.edu<\/a> <\/p>\n\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n<h5 class=\"has-text-align-center article-subhead\"><strong>Comment <strong>by Chris Lintott<\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<div class=\"no-tts wp-block-image article-in-image photo is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"no-tts alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/Chris-Lintott-PNG-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"no-tts wp-image-37676\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/Chris-Lintott-PNG-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/Chris-Lintott-PNG-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/Chris-Lintott-PNG-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/Chris-Lintott-PNG-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/Chris-Lintott-PNG.png 1181w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 120px) 100vw, 120px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<p>Back in 2005, I watched from Palomar Observatory as the Deep Impact spacecraft collided with comet Tempel 1. Despite widespread excitement, the mighty 200-inch telescope saw nothing at all. This time, it was the other way round. No one expected to see much, but even small back-garden telescopes could see the asteroid brightening, while larger telescopes saw a cloud of debris thrown up by the impact. If DART had a bigger effect than expected, it confirms the impression that Dimorphos is more like a pile of rubble than a solid rock. Whether DART succeeded in changing the asteroid\u2019s orbit or not, we\u2019ve learnt much already from its spectacular end<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Chris Lintott co-presents <em>The Sky at Night <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"footer\">Photos: ASI\/NASA, NASA\/DAVID C. BOWMAN, CTIO\/NOIRLAB\/SOAR\/NSF\/AURA\/T. KARETA (LOWELL OBSERVATORY), M. KNIGHT (US NAVAL ACADEMY) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s planetary defence strategy takes a step forward <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"11","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"11","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_11-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_11-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"November-2022","purple_external_id":"November-2022-11-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"November-2022-11-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086558||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086558||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.210","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.210","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.210","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.210","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1.jpg",1600,1228,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1-300x230.jpg",300,230,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1-768x589.jpg",768,589,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1-1024x786.jpg",800,614,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1-1536x1179.jpg",1536,1179,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/10\/lrc-2022-0926-h1_p_dart-000403_preview-1.jpg",1600,1228,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"NASA\u2019s planetary defence strategy takes a step forward","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37003"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37785,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37003\/revisions\/37785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}