DART has changed the orbit of the asteroid.
The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) took place some 11 million km from Earth. NASA’s Dart program scientist, Dr. Tom Statler, also had a word of caution about drawing too many conclusions from the experiment. Scientists have now confirmed that the orbit of a 160m-wide (520 ft) space rock known as Dimorphos was altered when the Dart probe struck it head-on last month.
Dimorphos, which means “having two forms” in Greek, is a minor-planet moon of the near-earth asteroid Didymos. Dimorphos is around 170 meters in diameter and it does not have a confirmed mass, but it is estimated to be about 5109 kg with a density of 2.17 g/cm3, similar to Didymos. It is currently the smallest celestial object
It has a rubble pile structure and seems like an egg-shaped body covered with boulders.
To test Asteroid deflection, DART was the first experiment conducted in space by NASA as a method to defend Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids.
Didymos is a binary system that was discovered in 1996 by Joe Montani at the University of Arizona, and Dimorphos was discovered by Petr Pravec in 2003 by photometric observation in the Czech Republic.
Periodic dips were discovered in Didymos’s brightness due to mutual eclipses and occultations. Dimorphos was found by this discovery.
DART-: DOUBLE ASTEROID REDIRECTION TEST
This test is made to prevent cosmic objects from destroying life on earth.
Its impact with Dimorphos has successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit by 32 minutes. It is the first time that the orbit of a celestial object has been changed by humans.
The US space agency said that they are ready for whatever the universe throws at us.
The DART Spacecraft and DART Mission were built, operated, and managed by Johns Hopkins APL.
NASA added that Dimorphos and Didymos posed no threat to Earth before or after DART’s controlled collision with Dimorphos.
Asteroid-:
Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit around the sun. Half the mass of the asteroid belt comprises the four largest asteroids.
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