Didymos is a pair of harmless rocks that are spinning through space. The DART mission crashed into them. Dimorphos was the target of a NASA mission to demonstrate planetary defense techniques. This technology could protect Earth from other space rocks that are more dangerous.
Both Didymos and Dimorphos are asteroids, but they are not the same. Didymos is a large asteroid with a length of 2,560 feet and Dimorphos is a small asteroid with a length of 160m. Dimorphos has been referred to as Didymoon by Space.com in the past.
Dimorphos circles Didymos every 11 hours and 55 minutes as it passes by the sun.
During a press conference held before DART's launch, planetary scientist Nancy Chabot stated that telescopes on Earth have been able to track that movement for decades. Telescopes around the globe can measure the change in brightness from the system when Dimorphos passes between Didymos and Earth.
The Didymos system is perfect for the DART mission because of its clockwork motion. Didymos isn't a threat to our planet, but it will be a test target.
It will be possible for researchers on Earth to observe the impact of DART on Dimorphos. The scientists were expecting Dimorphos to complete a loop of Didymos 10 minutes faster than before.
DART carried a cubesat to film the larger craft's impact and send the footage back to Earth.
Didymos was visible enough at the time of DART's impact to be a good candidate for study and distant enough to not be a problem.
Didymos is one of the asteroids named after a meteorite. Between Earth and Mars, there are asteroids that travel between the sun and the planets. Didymos takes two years to complete an elliptical around the sun.
According to NASA, the Didymos asteroid probably has a rocky surface with no regolith, or fine dust, that protects the moon and other asteroids. It doesn't have any atmosphere, rings or magnets.
A field of gray crags, boulders and pebbles can be seen in the images taken by DART.
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