Hubble Telescope takes pictures of asteroid hit by DART mission

After a NASA spacecraft managed to crash into an asteroid 7 million kilometers from Earth, scientists’ biggest question became: How resistant are these celestial and metal objects to external influences? Now, an observation by the Hubble Space Telescope has shown new images of the asteroid Dimorphos targeted by the DART Mission.

In other good news for our planet, the veteran telescope has revealed that, in addition to being able to change the trajectory of an alleged threatening asteroid, these Sun-orbiting objects are not as resilient as they seem. This is because Images taken by Hubble show large rocks falling from the asteroid after it was hit.

According to Professor David Jewitt, of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and first author of the paper, observation through Hubble exceeds all expectations. “We see a rock cloud carrying mass and energy from the impact target. The numbers, sizes, and shapes of the rocks are consistent with those plucked from the surface of Dimorphos.”

The “rock swarm” of the asteroid Dimorphos

The DART mission (short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test in Portuguese) precisely hit Dimorphos at 6.7 kilometers per second (see images above) and, changed its trajectory in just 33 minutes at a larger angle than expected. At first, the impact created a dust trail that was observed around the world.

Hubble continued to “track” Dimorphos, however, and showed that there was much more to DART than dust. According to the study, 37 rocks were recorded moving away from the asteroid.

with dimensions 1 to 7 meters in diameter, these objects move away very slowly (about 0.3 meters per second), but fast enough to escape the combined gravity of the two asteroids. Researchers understand that DART didn’t break Dimorphos, it just ripped loose surface stones.

What are the results of Hubble Telescope observations?

DART’s half-ton impact on Dimorphos at 22,500 kilometers per hour, in addition to deflecting it from its course, also made the asteroid slightly less threatening mathematically if it was on a collision course with Earth. The escaping rocks are estimated to account for 0.1% of the object’s mass before the impact.

However, new samples will be needed to definitively state that asteroids can be destroyed by repeated impacts. European Space Agency’s Hera mission Who will visit Dimorphos in 2026, can provide more accurate results.

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