Two days after DART’s impact of Dimorphus, ejected dust extends like a comet tail out more than 6,000 miles
Click for full image.
Using a telescope in Chile, astronomers photographed the ejecta two days after the impact of DART into the 525-foot-wide asteroid Dimorphus, and detected a tail of dust extending out more than 6,000 miles.
The picture to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, shows that tail.
In this new image, the dust trail — the ejecta that has been pushed away by the Sun’s radiation pressure, not unlike the tail of a comet — can be seen stretching from the center to the right-hand edge of the field of view. … At Didymos’s distance from Earth at the time of the observation, that would equate to at least 10,000 kilometers (6000 miles) from the point of impact.
Didymos is the larger parent asteroid that Dimorphus orbits.
It is still too soon to get the numbers on how Dimorphus’s path in space was changed by that impact. In fact, we still really don’t have a clear idea what is left of Dimophus itself. The ejecta cloud needs to clear somewhat to see what’s hidden inside it.
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Click for full image.
Using a telescope in Chile, astronomers photographed the ejecta two days after the impact of DART into the 525-foot-wide asteroid Dimorphus, and detected a tail of dust extending out more than 6,000 miles.
The picture to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, shows that tail.
In this new image, the dust trail — the ejecta that has been pushed away by the Sun’s radiation pressure, not unlike the tail of a comet — can be seen stretching from the center to the right-hand edge of the field of view. … At Didymos’s distance from Earth at the time of the observation, that would equate to at least 10,000 kilometers (6000 miles) from the point of impact.
Didymos is the larger parent asteroid that Dimorphus orbits.
It is still too soon to get the numbers on how Dimorphus’s path in space was changed by that impact. In fact, we still really don’t have a clear idea what is left of Dimophus itself. The ejecta cloud needs to clear somewhat to see what’s hidden inside it.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It will be interesting to see the numbers when they come out and how closely they equate to the expected results. If the estimate (guess?) of the mass of the parent and it’s satellite are accurate, and knowing the velocity and mass of Dart, the numbers should be very close. The only variable would be how close to the center of Dimorphus’ CG the Dart struck.
Keep us in the loop.
Jerry Greenwood: There are other variables that could not be measured in advance. For example, the structure of Dimorphus could be strong, or weak. If a rubble pile, for example, it would be very weak. In that case predicting the outcome is more difficult. It could break up into a cloud of debris that will slowly coalesce back together, or be flung apart. It would also be hard to predict how much breakage there would be.
The images and subsequent large cloud (larger than expected) suggest a rubble pile.
Wondering if that trail means that it is more of a dust pile, rather than a rubble pile.
The early pictures suggest a rubble pile. It appears the rocket had an effect like a bullet hitting a watermelon.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-images-from-italian-space-agency-s-liciacube-satellite
sippin_bourbon: “Wondering if that trail means that it is more of a dust pile, rather than a rubble pile.”
Perhaps it means a hunk of it was shattered / shocked into a dust pile?