Dimorphos is the small asteroid moonlet that DART deliberately crashed into. A higher resolution image of Dimorphos was created by Eydeet on Imgur.
Is it the first time you've seen it? The pile is shaped like an egg.
Didymos is an asteroid that is 2,560 feet in diameter and 160 meters in diameter. NASA says the i mpact should change the way Dimorphos orbits Didymos and this asteroid duo is the perfect target for this demonstration test. The asteroid is expected to have slowed its speed after DART crashed into it. The impact was similar to hitting a golf cart into the Great Pyramid.
The scientists are looking at the data to figure out how much was altered. This will show if DART can be used to protect the planet from an asteroid or comet.
The Didymos and Dimorphos have a range of distances from just outside of Earth to a bit further away from the planet Mars. The pair have to travel around the Sun for 2.11 years.
The scale of what we see up close on Dimorphos is provided by the following tweet.
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