Post by @coreyspowell@mastodon.social

@coreyspowell@mastodon.social 15 hr. ago

4 years ago, NASA's DART spacecraft crashed into asteroid Dimorphos to test tech for deflecting a potentially hazardous space object. Now ESA's Hera mission is about to give us our first clear look at the aftermath.

The larger companion asteroid, Didymos, is up front; Dimorphos is tiny in the background (for now).

https://www.esa.int/articles/about-us/directorates/operations/space-safety/hera/hera-s-first-close-up-view-of-didymos-asteroids #space #science #nature #tech

In this image, acquired by Hera’s monochromatic Asteroid Framing Camera from 60 km away, most of the 151-m diameter Dimorphos asteroid is hidden by shadow but the 780-m diameter Didymos asteroid that the smaller moonlet orbits around is shown clearly.

Hera’s first close-up view of Didymos asteroids

The European Space Agency’s Hera mission for planetary defence has acquired its first close-up of the Didymos binary asteroid system. NASA’s DART spacecraft impacted the smaller Dimorphos asteroid on 26 September 2022 – but this image gives a novel view of its adjacent parent asteroid.

#science #space #nature #tech

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Corey S Powell

@coreyspowell@mastodon.social 15 hr. ago

This is so cool: The European Space Agency released images from Hera's framing camera (space dashcam footage!) as the spacecraft closed in on asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos.

Dimorphos is the little one orbiting around. That's the one we smacked in 2022.

https://www.esa.int/articles/about-us/directorates/operations/space-safety/hera/hera-s-first-close-up-view-of-didymos-asteroids #space #science #technology

Hera’s first close-up view of Didymos asteroids