Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Didymos-Dimorphos System After DART Impact

Graphic titled “Didymos-Dimorphos System” with three labeled images stacked vertically. All three images show a bright white spot in the center surrounded by an irregular cloud of blue that decreases in brightness with distance from the bright spot. The size and shape of the blue cloud are different in each image, as are the labels. In all three images the background is black and there are subtle diffraction spikes radiating from the bright spot.

These three panels capture the breakup of the asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by NASA's 1,200-pound Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission spacecraft on September 26, 2022. Hubble Space Telescope had a ringside view of the space demolition derby. The top panel, taken 2 hours after impact, shows an ejecta cone of an estimated 1,000 tons of dust.

The center frame shows the dynamic interaction within the asteroid's binary system that starts to distort the cone shape of the ejecta pattern about 17 hours after the impact. The most prominent structures are rotating, pinwheel-shaped features. The pinwheel is tied to the gravitational pull of the companion asteroid, Didymos.

In the bottom frame Hubble next captures the debris being swept back into a comet-like tail by the pressure of sunlight on the tiny dust particles. This stretches out into a debris train where the lightest particles travel the fastest and farthest from the asteroid. The mystery is compounded when Hubble records the tail splitting in two for a few days.

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    These images were created from HST data from proposal: 16674 (J.-Y. Li).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/UVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    Sep 27, 28, and Oct 08, 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F350LP
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Didymos-Dimorphos System
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) on asteroid Dimorphos
  • Release Date
    March 1, 2023
  • Science Release
    Hubble Captures Movie of DART Asteroid Impact Debris
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, STScI, Jian-Yang Li (PSI); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

  • Annotated, Full Res (For Display), 1920 × 3240
    png (6.69 MB)
  • Annotated, Full Res (For Print), 1920 × 3240
    tif (5.47 MB)
  • Annotated, 1185 × 2000
    png (2.56 MB)
  • Unannotated, Full Res (For Display), 1920 × 3240
    png (6.61 MB)
  • Unannotated, Full Res (For Print), 1920 × 3240
    tif (5.4 MB)
  • Unannotated, 1185 × 2000
    png (2.49 MB)
Graphic titled “Didymos-Dimorphos System” with three labeled images stacked vertically. All three images show a bright white spot in the center surrounded by an irregular cloud of blue that decreases in brightness with distance from the bright spot. The size and shape of the blue cloud are different in each image, as are the labels. In all three images the background is black and there are subtle diffraction spikes radiating from the bright spot.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

The images are separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning a blue hue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image.

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

Graphic titled “Didymos-Dimorphos System HST WFC3/UVIS” shows three images stacked vertically, along with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. All three images show a bright white spot in the center surrounded by an irregular cloud of blue that decreases in brightness with distance from the bright spot. The size and shape of the blue cloud are different in each image, as are the labels. At the top left is a color key indicating that light from the F350 LP filter is shown in blue. At the lower left of each image is a scale bar labeled 200 kilometers, which is about 1/20th the width of the image. On the right side of the top image is a north arrow pointing upward and an east arrow pointing to the left. At the lower right in each image is a set of arrows: An arrow labeled “direction of impact” points from upper left to lower right. An arrow labeled “to Sun” points toward the left, and slight down. The two arrows are oriented such that they suggest an oblique perspective.

Didymos-Dimorphos System After DART Impact—Compass Version

In the compass image, these three panels capture the breakup of the asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by NASA's 1,200-pound Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission spacecraft on September 26, 2022. Hubble Space Telescope had a ringside view of the space...

Image labeled “September 27; 01:06:21; T+1.9 hours” showing a bright white spot by an irregular cloud of blue. The background is black and there are subtle diffraction spikes radiating from the bright spot.

Time-Lapse Video of Didymos-Dimorphos System

This movie captures the breakup of the asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by NASA's 1,200-pound Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission spacecraft on September 26, 2022. The Hubble Space Telescope had a ringside view of the space demolition derby. The Hubble...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 10, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Images

Hubble News