Dramatic pictures show an asteroid and a spaceship colliding
The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test: The first Earth’s impact on the moonlet Dimorphos and Didymos
It took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to get to Didymos. Now, it takes Dimorphos 11 hours and 23 minutes to circle Didymos. The DART spacecraft changed the moonlet asteroid’s orbit by 32 minutes.
It is the first time that humankind has changed the trajectory of an object in space.
The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was a first-of-its-kind attempt to change the trajectory of a rock through space. Scientists learned how successful humanity’s punch at the universe really was as a result of the collision and aftermath.
The DART data is used to learn about the physics, chemistry and geology of Dimorphos and Didymos. This work is being done with the help of a network of amateur astronomers co-led by Marchis. After the impact of the asteroids, the network members discovered that the rocks became much more red than before.
But the most dramatic images were the first ones shared by LICIACube, the mini Italian satellite that followed DART and watched the entire event from a safe distance. Is the best part? We are going to see a lot over the next couple of months.
CNN News Editor’s Note: Women in Science with Outstanding Contributions from the Space and Space X Observations on Titanic and Mesaba 1912
It’s difficult to predict who will win these prestigious awards because the nominators, short list and the selection process are kept from public view.
But there are plenty of women who are worthy candidates, such as Dr. Mary-Claire King, who discovered cancer-causing genes, and Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston, whose work blazed a trail in treating sickle cell disease.
Meet more of the female scientists on CNN’s list and learn about the revolutionary discoveries they’ve made in vaccine research, astronomy and chemistry.
Where glaciers meet the ocean can be a dangerous place for humans. The acoustics of dense bodies of ice are monitored from afar, which is changing how we understand them and how they affect animals.
On April 14, 1912, the British merchant steamship had sent a message to the RMS Titanic, but the iceberg warning never reached the massive ocean liner’s main control center on that fateful night.
A German submarine torpedoed the Mesaba just six years later, resulting in the death of 20 people. But the exact location of the vessel has been unknown until now.
Webb spotted the “bones” of a stunning spiral galaxy located 29 million light-years from Earth, a feat even more surprising when compared with Hubble’s view of the same galaxy.
Astronomers analyzed the first image from WEBB and concluded that it contains a bunch of the oldest stars in the universe and one that looks like a firework.
The Hubble Space Telescope could get a boost to a higher altitude if the findings of the new exploratory agreement between NASA and SpaceX are accurate.
The impact of a spacecraft on asteroid Dimorphos on September 20, 2022: Evidence for a recoil force?
Scientists are finally publishing all the details of what happened when a NASA spacecraft smashed into an asteroid to try to push it off course in September of 2022.
The insights gained from the collision are helping scientists learn how this planetary defense technique might be used in the future. If an asteroid is ever discovered to be on a collision course with Earth, that will be the case.
“What we can learn from the DART mission is all part of a NASA’s overarching work to understand asteroids and other small bodies in our Solar System,” said Tom Statler, program scientist for DART at NASA, in a statement.
The team lead for DART said that the most important thing to measure is mucus transfer, which would be necessary to divert a threating asteroid.
The discovery of more details is helping researchers to understand why the impact was so successful in shunting the asteroid, says Carolyn Ernst, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
The change in color was confirmed by NASA at a December meeting of the American Geophysical Union. She says they think this is due to the fact that we have a lot of material thrown off. The impact blasted through the asteroid’s weathered interior and exposed part of its insides, making everything look redder — at least until the fresh material dissipated.
GreenfieldboyCE: Once the spacecraft went whammo, those images stopped. But telescopes on the ground and in space showed that the impact kicked up a huge cloud of dust and debris.
CHENG: The same way that if you fire a gun and you shoot a bullet back that way, the gun kicks back against you. So that’s – the recoil force is an extra force that’s pushing against the asteroid.
FIELDBOYCE: He says in the future, if a dangerous asteroid is headed our way, scientists will have more confidence in their ability to deflect it, even larger asteroids or ones that show up with less warning. After the impact, astronomers watched fascinated as the cloud of debris around Dimorphos evolved into a long comet-like tail. Telescopes can still detect it. There is an astronomer at Northern Arizona University.
The NPR Transcripts and the Radio Expo Electrified Radio Broadcasting Radio Programming (NRR Broadcast) Radio Program
The NPR transcripts were created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
