What Do We Expect to Learn from DART Asteroid Redirection Tests? Is the Didymos Challenge Nearing Its End?
As the spacecraft for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test neared its target Monday, images streamed back to Earth at the rate of one per second of the asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits a larger space rock called Didymos.
Researchers estimate it will take about two months to determine whether DART was successful in changing Dimorphos’ motion in space in humanity’s first test of asteroid deflection technology.
While NASA recently proved it can successfully alter the motion of an asteroid in space, they still have to find space rocks that pose a threat to our planet. Instruments like the Dark Energy Camera, as well as future space-based observatories like the Near Earth Object Surveyor, can pinpoint previously unknown asteroids.
The collision was visible by the Hubble Space Telescope, while the James Webb space telescope spotted the material releasing from the Dimorphos.
The first images uploaded by LICIACube, a mini Italian satellite, showed the DART event from a safe distance. The best part? We will see so much more over the next two months.
It’s difficult to predict who will win these prestigious awards because the nominators, short list and the selection process are kept from public view.
CNN News Editor’s Editor: CNN Women of the Year 1912, from the British Merchant Steamship to the Titanic and the Hubble Space Telescope
But there are plenty of women who are worthy candidates, such as Dr. Mary-Claire King, who discovered cancer-causing genes, and Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston, whose work blazed a trail in treating sickle cell disease.
Meet more of the female scientists on CNN’s list and learn about the revolutionary discoveries they’ve made in vaccine research, astronomy and chemistry.
Humans can be in danger if glaciers meet the ocean. Monitoring the acoustics of these dense bodies of ice from afar is changing how researchers understand them and what we know about how their sounds impact the animals living in these disappearing habitats.
On April 14, 1912, the British merchant steamship sent a message to the Titanic, but it never went to the control center.
The Mesaba was destroyed by a German submarine in six years, killing 20 people. But the exact location of the vessel has been unknown until now.
Webb spotted the “bones” of a stunning spiral galaxy located 29 million light-years from Earth, a feat even more surprising when compared with Hubble’s view of the same galaxy.
Meanwhile, astronomers analyzed Webb’s very first image and determined that it contains some of the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe – including one that looks a lot like a celestial firework.
– The Hubble Space Telescope may get a boost into a higher orbit to extend its life, depending on the findings under a new exploratory agreement between NASA and SpaceX.
Asteroid Studies with the Dark Energy Camera: Prospects for Small Near-Earth Asteroids within the Orbits of Earth and Venus
The asteroids belong to a group found within the orbits of Earth and Venus, but they’re incredibly difficult to observe because the brightness of the sun shields them from telescope observations.
Astronomers were able to see a lot more detail in the night sky thanks to the Dark Energy Camera.
Even though the asteroid crosses Earth’s path, it occurs when Earth is at a different angle to the sun, and this will last for hundreds of years. But over time, the asteroid’s movements will be more in sync with the Earth. Scientists don’t know the asteroid’s orbit with enough precision to say how dangerous it could become in the future, but for now, it “will stay well away from Earth,” Sheppard said.
“Our twilight survey is scouring the area within the orbits of Earth and Venus for asteroids,” said lead study author Scott S. Sheppard, an astronomer at the Earth & Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, in a statement.
A near-Earth asteroid measuring 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) or larger “would have a devastating impact on life as we know it,” he said. Dust and pollutants would fill the atmosphere for years, cooling the planet and preventing sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface.
The team will find more killer asteroids over the next couple of years. Scientists believe there are about 1,000 near-Earth objects larger than 1 kilometer in size, and surveys over the last decade have found about 95% of them.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/world/potentially-hazardous-near-earth-asteroid-scn/index.html
The Solar System at the Edge of the Intense Light: Detecting Asteroids and Comets in the Solar System with Hubble and James Webb
Space telescopes like Hubble and James Webb can not be used to observe the inner solar system due to the sun’s heat and intense light that could fry their instruments.
The survey is one of the most sensitive ever done for objects near to Venus’s position on Earth. “This is a unique chance to understand what types of objects are lurking in the inner Solar System.”
Near- Earth objects are asteroids and comets with an elliptical ellipse, which places them within 30 million miles of Earth. NASA and other space organizations around the world are involved in detecting the threat of near-earth objects that could cause grave harm.
Understanding the asteroid populations will help scientists learn how the heat of the sun can fragment and break space rocks over time.