Last September , DART hit asteroid Dimorphos , the small companion of asteroid Didymos . The wallop was a trial run of planetary Defense Department , render thatwe can really change over the compass of a celestial physical structure . But it was also a chance to study what an impact on an asteroid looks like . And astronomers did not waste time in pointing some of the most powerful telescopes at it .
Using the Very Lage Telescope , part of the European Southern Observatory ( ESO ) , astronomers were able to spot feature film , report , and peculiarities of the dust relinquish in the impact . And it gave them a great deal of information about what happens when asteroids collide .
“ impact between asteroids materialize of course , but you never know it in advance , ” the lead writer of one of two Modern study , Cyrielle Opitom , an stargazer at the University of Edinburg , articulate in astatement . “ DART is a really bully chance to read a see to it impact , almost as in a laboratory . ”
This research team followed the development of the dust cloud from simple hours after the impact to a month later . At first , the ejected cloud was bluer in color than the asteroid , suggesting that it was made of fine particles , but as time went by and it expound , the squad saw structures develop such as clumps , spirals , and long tails . And as more clip plump by , they appeared crimson and redder , suggest large atom were the chief component of these .
The team also looked for water meth from the asteroid – there was niggling hope of incur it as they tend to be very dry , but it was of import to check . They also looked for any residual fuel from DART , but it bear on the asteroid almost empty .
“ We knew it was a long shot , ” Opitom explained , “ as the amount of gas that would be left in the storage tank from the propulsion organization would not be vast . Furthermore , some of it would have travel too far to find it with MUSE by the time we start observing . ”
The other inquiry team expect at the polarisation of light from the cloud of junk survey the impact . Polarized light is light with a specific orientation ( the electromagnetic theatre of operations of it oscillate on a specific plane ) and the atmosphere and surface of a celestial dead body can change and polarise the Christ Within of the Sun . Or clouds of particles from a hit .
“ Tracking how the polarisation change with the predilection of the asteroid relative to us and the Sun reveals the structure and composition of its control surface , ” lead writer Stefano Bagnulo , an astronomer at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in the UK , explained .
” We lie with that under sure circumstance , smaller fragment are more effective at contemplate sparkle and less efficient at polarising it , ” explain Zuri Gray , a PhD student also at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium .
This is just the beginning of this datum depth psychology . More work is currently being done to canvas what the ESO observatories have seen in this wondrous event .
The paper chair by Opitom is published inAstronomy & Astrophysics , and the piece of work lead by Bagnulo inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters .
