Zipping through space at some 14,000 mph (22,500 km/h), NASA’s DART spacecraft slammed into the surface of a small asteroid on Sept. 27, 2022. Despite the modest mass of the buggy-sized spacecraft, the collision ejected large plumes of material that caused the double-asteroid system to increase in brightness roughly threefold.
At various points before, during, or after the impact, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope observed DART’s target: the tiny moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos.
Although James Webb and Hubble have already viewed some of the same celestial targets before, these DART images mark the first time the two space telescopes have teamed up to capture simultaneous observations of the same object.
These space-based observations of DART’s impact and the resulting debris cloud will provide astronomers with the data they need to better understand the nature of Dimorphos’ surface.
For instance, Webb ...
