Impressive images of the impact with the asteroid Dimorphos

If only it would be a few days to a few weeks before scientists can confirm that the asteroid’s path has indeed changed. Astronomers around the world discovered the first images of the collision on Tuesday, saying they were affected by a massive cloud of debris that they hope will foreshadow a successful deflection.

In images detected by ground-based telescopes and the Italian satellite LICIACube, aboard the Dart mission, we can see a flash caused by the ejection of matter and dust under the impact of the probe. From this column, “we can begin to estimate the density of the material on the surface,” says Antonella Barocci, of the Lycia Laboratory at Paris Meudon Observatory.

“The more material we get out, the more we deviate”

“We were all impressed by the scale of the event. We did a lot of damage to Demorphos,” excited Patrick Michel, the principal investigator for the European Hera mission who will follow in Dart’s footsteps in 2024. “We have an absolutely incredible amount of material ejected,” according to the astrophysicist. this . In this case, Larry Dino, principal investigator for the Atlas Telescope, based in South Africa and the commander from Hawaii, is developing “fine dust that shoots out faster than the speed of an asteroid.”

The amount of matter shredded from the body – called projectiles – is essential, because it is this dynamic, angular momentum, that must play the role of the motive. To eventually modify Demorphos’ orbital trajectory around the larger “origin” asteroid, Didymos.