NASA: Impact against asteroid created ‘rock cloud’ – 07/20/2023 – Science
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The impact of a NASA probe against an asteroid last year, in an Earth defense test, sent a “cloud of rocks” into space, according to images from the Hubble Space Telescope released on Thursday (20).
On September 26, 2022, the Dart mission probe collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, which was about 11 million kilometers from Earth at the time of impact.
The test, which was successful and diverted the object’s trajectory, was intended to train the operation in case an asteroid could threaten to hit Earth eventually.
Hubble images show that the collision also released 37 rocks ranging from 1 meter to more than 7 meters in diameter. They are slowly moving away from Dimorphos at about one kilometer per hour, according to the statement.
This speed allows the European Space Agency’s Hera mission, which is due to inspect the asteroid in 2026, to observe the cloud of rocks.
According to NASA, the photo tells, for the first time, what happens when you hit an asteroid and what comes out of it.
The scattering of the rock indicates that the Dart mission created a crater about 50 meters in diameter on the asteroid.
Scientists will continue to study the trajectory of the rocks to understand in which directions they were ejected.
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