While there is likely a lot of information to be learned from the images taken by DART, the world will have to wait to learn whether the deflection was also a success. The fact that the images stopped transmitting after the target point was reached can only mean that the impact was a success. The last bits of data that came from the DART spacecraft right before impact show that it was on course. Though small, if done far enough away from Earth, a nudge like this could potentially deflect a future asteroid headed towards Earth just enough to prevent an impact. NASA expects the impact to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by about 1%, or roughly 10 minutes. Prior to the test, Dimorphos orbited Didymos in roughly 16 hours. NASA used the analogy of a golf cart hitting the side of an Egyptian pyramid to convey the relative difference in size between tiny DART and Dimorphos, the smaller of the two asteroids. The point of the DART mission was to test whether it is possible to deflect an asteroid with a kinetic impact – by crashing something into it. The fact that NASA received only a part of the image implies that the shutter took the picture but DART, traveling at around 14,000 miles per hour (22,500 kilometers per hour) was unable to transmit the complete image before impact. The final photo, taken one second before impact, only shows the top slice of an image but this is incredibly exciting. The final image from DART, taken one second before impact, was not able to fully transmit back to Earth. They imply the DART spacecraft was centered on its trajectory to impact Dimorphos at the moment, but it’s also possible the asteroid was slowly rotating relative to the camera. These shadows are interesting because they suggest that the camera aboard the DART spacecraft was seeing Dimorphos directly on but the Sun was at an angle relative to the camera. The second-to-last image, taken two seconds before impact shows the rocky surface of Dimorphos, including small shadows. \ This photo shows the textured and rock-strewn surface of Dimorphos and was taken two seconds before DART crashed into the surface. This meant that the targeting algorithm was fairly accurate and the craft would collide right at the center of Dimorphos. The image taken at 11 seconds before impact and 42 miles (68 kilometers) from Dimorphos shows the asteroid centered in the camera’s field of view. NASA/Johns Hopkins APLĪs the targeting algorithm on DART locked onto Dimorphos, the craft adjusted its flight and began heading towards the smaller of the two asteroids. This image of the moonlet Dimorphos was taken 11 seconds before the DART spacecraft crashed into the asteroid.
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