New asteroid strike images show impact 'a lot bigger than expected'

[TheProle]

Astronomers rejoiced as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor slammed into its pyramid-sized, rugby ball-shaped target 11 million kilometres (6.8 million miles) from Earth on Monday night.

Images taken by Earth-bound telescopes showed a vast cloud of dust expanding out of Dimorphos -- and its big brother Didymos which it orbits -- after the spaceship hit.

While those images showed matter spraying out over thousands of kilometres, the James Webb and Hubble images "zoom in much closer", said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast involved in observations with the ATLAS project.

(snip)

Ian Carnelli of the European Space Agency said that the "really impressive" Webb and Hubble images were remarkably similar to those taken by the toaster-sized satellite LICIACube, which was just 50 kilometres from the asteroid after separating from the DART spacecraft a few weeks ago.

The images depict an impact that looks "a lot bigger than we expected," said Carnelli, the manager of the ESA's Hera mission which intends to inspect the damage in four years.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220929-new-asteroid-strike-images-show-impact-a-lot-bigger-than-expected

[Chainfire]

1. Ok, it made a big hole. Did it change the orbit?

[2naSalit]

2. Won't know for a little while...

The thing has to move in its path for a distance in order to tell if it has changed.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. Don't forget to factor in the alien retro rockets counteracting any changes.

I'm just glad the aliens' return fire keeps missing. They're not as good at DARTs as NASA.