Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

New images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the Didymos-Dimorphos system after NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), an experiment designed to intentionally smash a spacecraft into a small asteroid to change the motion of the object, reveal the system now has two tails of dust that were ejected from the Sept. 26 impact.

Repeated observations from Hubble over the last several weeks have allowed scientists to present a more complete picture of how the system’s debris cloud has evolved over time. Experts expected the ejecta to expand and fade in brightness as time went on after impact. However, the twin tail is a surprising development. The Hubble observations provide the best-quality image of the double-tail to date.

Following impact, Hubble made 18 observations of the system. Imagery indicates the second tail formed between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8.

In this image, DART impacted the Didymos-Dimorphos system from the 10 o’clock direction. Dimorphos has a retrograde (backwards) orbit around Didymos.

Astronomers believe the southern tail is the original plume of ejecta created by the impact visible in Hubble imagery captured several hours after impact. The northern tail is newly developed. In the coming months, scientists will be taking a closer look at the data from Hubble to determine how the second tail developed. There are a number of possible scenarios the team will investigate.

The Hubble data were collected as part of Cycle 29 General Observers Program 16674.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble and Webb science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-056

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

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