Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, October 9 (Xinhua)-- NASA's DART spacecraft successfully hit an asteroid called Dimorphos at the end of September in an attempt to change the asteroid's orbit by kinetic energy impact, the first test in the world to protect the Earth from the threat of asteroid impact.

Recently, Chile's National Science Foundation's NOIRLab-operated SOAR telescope captured more than 10000 kilometers of debris erupting from the surface of Demofus two days after the asteroid was hit by a DART spacecraft.

As can be seen from the picture, the dust trajectory is similar to that of a comet, extending from the center of the field of view to the right edge. Based on the distance between Demofus and Earth at the time of observation, the asteroid is at least 10000 kilometers from the point of impact.

NOIRLab astronomers Kareta and Knight said: "surprisingly, we were able to clearly capture the movement of the asteroid in the days after the impact. We plan to use SOAR to monitor the debris trajectory in the coming weeks and months."

These observations will give scientists knowledge about the surface properties of binary stars, how much material is ejected by the collision, how fast the jet is, and the size distribution of particles in the expanding dust cloud, NOIRLab said. Analyzing this information will help scientists better understand the number and nature of jets produced by the impact and how to change the orbit of asteroids to protect Earth and its inhabitants.

CTOnews.com learned that James Weber and the Hubble Space Telescope also captured the planetary defense test from a distance, but only at the time of the impact. According to NASA's preliminary findings, the brightness of the asteroid tripled after the impact, a level that lasted at least eight hours. Hubble took 45 images immediately before and after the DART impact and will make 10 more observations of the asteroid system in the coming weeks.

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