Astronomers rejoiced when the NASA's DART spacecraft hit the asteroid on Monday, September 26th. The size of a pyramid and the shape of a rugby ball, the target was 11 million kilometers from Earth.
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The images captured by James Webb and Hubble, telescopes of NASA, offer a broader view of the impact. Check out the videos below:
According to Ian Carnelli, from the European Space Agency (ESA), the photographs portray an impact apparently “much greater than expected”.
The true measure of DART's success will be how much exactly it deflected the asteroid's trajectory. With this information, the world can begin preparing to defend itself against larger asteroids, which could come towards Earth in the future.
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It is likely that it will take Earth-bound telescopes and radars at least a week to get a first estimate of how much the asteroid's orbit has changed. For an accurate measurement, Carnelli says the deadline is three or four weeks.
(With AFP)
