The James Webb Space Telescope and its older counterpart Hubble photographed the impact of NASA’s DART probe on the Dimorphos space rock on Monday (September 26).
The observations were the first work the two space telescopes have done in sync, according to NASA, and their collaboration will reveal new information about the battered asteroid. The James Webb Space Telescope observe the universe in the infrared (wavelengths emitting heat), while The Hubble Space Telescope is a specialist in the detection of optical light, that which is visible to the human eye. By combining observations from the two telescopes, astronomers can learn a lot about objects in the cosmos.
Webb and Hubble observed the Didymos binary asteroid system before the collision of the 1,235 pounds (560 kilograms) Asteroid double redirect test (DART) with the 525-foot-wide (140-meter) wide Dimorphos satellite. Dimorphos orbits a 2,560-foot-wide (780 m) space rock called Didymos, and it’s the moon’s orbit around the largest rock that the DART experiment was designed to alter.
Related: Here are the first images of the wild asteroid crash of DART!
The pair of asteroids, which at the time of impact were about 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth, appeared to Webb and Hubble as a point of light that suddenly brightened when DART arrived. In the hours that follow the crashthe agitated cloud of matter on the surface of Dimorphos moved away from this point, gradually changing shape.
According to Hubble measurements, the luminosity of the Didymos system tripled following the DART impact, and this luminosity persisted for more than eight hours.
Hubble took the images with its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument while Webb used its near-infrared camera (NIRCam). Astronomers are still analyzing the images. They hope they can learn something about the surface of Dimorphos and the nature of the material ejected by the collision. For example, they might be able to tell whether ejecta is mostly fine-grained dust or larger rock fragments, said the European Space Agency (ESA), which is cooperating with NASA on both projects. in a press release. statement (opens in a new tab). The two telescopes will continue to observe the asteroid system in the coming months, according to ESA.
“Webb and Hubble show what we have always known to be true at NASA: we learn more when we work together,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a NASA statement (opens in a new tab). “For the first time, Webb and Hubble have simultaneously captured images of the same target in the cosmos: an asteroid that was hit by a spacecraft after a seven million kilometer journey. All of humanity is eagerly awaiting the discoveries coming from Webb, Hubble and our ground-based telescopes – about the DART mission and beyond.”
The DART mission was the first experiment in history designed to alter the orbit of a celestial body. The so-called kinetic impact strategy demonstrated by the mission could one day save Earth from colliding with a lost space rock. (Dimorphos and Didymos pose no threat to our planet.)
Hundreds of ground-based telescopes around the world are currently studying the Didymos system to determine how much the moon’s orbit around the main rock has changed after impact. However, this may take several weeks to get the exact result.
A small Italian cubesat called LICIACubewho traveled to the binary asteroid Didymos aboard DART but was released 11 days before impact, watched the action unfold from a distance of several hundred miles.
The twin asteroid will also be the target of a dedicated European mission called Herawhich will explore in detail the consequences of the impact in 2027.
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