Researchers confirm that the collision with the device changed the orbit of the celestial body.
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Scientists held the first conference at which they discussed the collision of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) device with Dimorph – a satellite of the Didymus asteroid. But it discussed not only the consequences of the collision, but also other aspects that became known after it. For example, Didyma's form, reports Space.com.
The images obtained by DART show not only the side into which the device crashed, but also the opposite side. This is due to the fact that the greater Didymus reflects the light of the sun that falls on it. These images showed that the idea of the shape of Dimorph before the collision was not entirely correct.
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Before that, the researchers had only fragmentary data about its shape, which showed that the distance between the poles of the celestial body would be its longest measurement. But the images showed that this is not so. The shape of Dimorph does not resemble a bean, but rather a candy, something like an M&M.
The obtained data also showed that the collision of DART with Dymorph accelerated its rotation around Didymus. Now it completes a revolution not in 11 hours and 55 minutes, but in 11 hours and 23 minutes, that is, 32 minutes faster. More recent data has shown that this time is 33 minutes and may change by another minute in the near future.
Although this seems like a small change, it is significant. And this information may be useful in the future to protect the Earth from asteroids.
Researchers also calculated that 11 GJ of energy was released during the DART collision with the asteroid. For comparison, the explosion of 1 ton of TNT releases 4 GJ of energy, and a typical family in the United States consumes approximately 40 GJ of energy per hour. In addition, it became known that the device crashed into Dimorph at an angle of 73 degrees, which is also important, since the angle of collision affects how the orbit of the celestial body changes.
Recall that the launch of the DART mission took place on November 24, 2021 year, it was carried out with the help of a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. On the night of September 27, it crashed into Dimorph at a speed of about 23,760 kilometers per hour.
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The dual system was opened back in 1996. It consists of two celestial bodies: Didyma with a diameter of about 780 meters, and Dimorph, whose diameter is estimated at 160 meters.
