DART changed Dimorphos' orbit by 32 minutes, which was 25 times the mission's baseline.
Before DART smashed into it on September 26, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle its larger parent asteroid, Didymos. Astronomers have been using telescopes on Earth to measure how much that time has changed. The data shows that the impact from the small spacecraft shortened Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes, with a margin of uncertainty of about plus or minus 2 minutes.
. “This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us. NASA has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet.”Before the collision, the agency defined the minimum successful orbit period change of Dimorphos as change of 73 seconds or more. This early data shows DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times.
More information on of the asteroid’s physical properties will be needed to better understand how much impact the ejecta had. To project the mass and shape of the asteroid, astronomer will continue to study imagery of Dimorphos from DART’s terminal approach and from the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids, provided by the Italian Space Agency.
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