Astrum

I just wanted to share this, as I thought it was super cool!

The University of Maryland just released these incredible images from NASA’s DART mission, showing the moment DART impacted the asteroid moon Dimorphos. The images were captured by the LICIACube spacecraft, and you can see the main asteroid Didymos moving across the frame from upper left to upper right as LICIACube flies by.

The impact on Dimorphos created an epic plume of dust and rocks, shooting out in this asymmetric cone pattern full of filaments and streams of material. Scientists think DART hit a rocky surface covered in large boulders, which got shattered and blasted out in directions they didn’t expect.

What’s really striking is how this mission shows just how complicated asteroid deflection actually is in practice. We’re making progress, but there’s clearly still a lot we need to learn about how these impacts work, if we want to use this method for planetary defense.

If you’re interested in finding out more about DART, check out this Astrum supercut we made about the mission: https://youtu.be/21YXb0bnY4E

Link to article: cmns.umd.edu/news-events/news/massive-boulders-eje…

3 months ago | [YT] | 3,894



@ScreamingGoblin905

Space is nuts man

3 months ago | 68

@constantined9015

Driving a space fighter "jet" through that! The absolute dream!!!!

3 months ago | 5

@DuckyTheFox

A wonderful testament to the power mankind can produce when we put our funding towards science.

3 months ago | 50

@ReclinedPhysicist

That experiment showed that it might be easier to deflect an asteroid from the earth than we first thought.

3 months ago | 9

@Rebander1549

Super cool 😎! And so much to learn!!! Fascinating!

3 months ago | 1

@intrepidus3378

This is incredible.

3 months ago | 6

@JKHTX

Is the asteroid pulling off a Matrix bullet dodge?

3 months ago | 105

@brianbulger7435

Still amazes me on what can do in space an now science fiction is science fact remember watching with my 10 year old daughter an she sucks it all up when comes to space

3 months ago | 3

@tobiaswilhelmi4819

Still think changing the luminosity aka painting of a potential impacter is our best bet over shooting it.

3 months ago | 1

@saratov99

Like approaching scene from Armageddon.

3 months ago | 16

@SonoftheBread

"Planetary defense" fuck yeah we only have the one right now

3 months ago | 2

@OTHERWISE_UNKNOWN

This is in preparation for Friday, April 13th, 2029

3 months ago | 2

@ZimMal-o4p

Marvel should take note.

3 months ago | 1

@19miked83

Eyes... in the dark .... one moon... circles

3 months ago | 1

@superhawk20002

Crazy that it was actually caught on camera... but I can't tell or really see WTH is actually happening.

3 months ago | 0

@graviolalbio

That is amazing 😮😮 Thank

3 months ago | 0

@prydonia

Needs the Dr. Who theme playing....

3 months ago | 1

@NomNomm6063

That is very cool! 👍

3 months ago | 0

@Kevin-hb7yq

The DART mission was a wonderful success, I look forward to the images from the HERA spacecraft due to arrive on scene October 2026. If the impact was September of 2022.. why is this particular image released 3 years later?

3 months ago | 0

@anonymoussnekk

This is just an amazing video! Its so interesting to me how complicated these sorts of experiments can be. All of the research that went into this one rocket, and yet we cant predict what kind of surface it will hit. The cone of dust and rock is beautiful...

3 months ago | 1