                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2022 September 29

                       DART Asteroid Impact from Space
                          Image Credit: ASI / NASA

   Explanation: Fifteen days before impact, the DART spacecraft deployed a
   small companion satellite to document its historic planetary defense
   technology demonstration. Provided by the Italian Space Agency, the
   Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids, aka LICIACube, recorded
   this image of the event's aftermath. A cloud of ejecta is seen near the
   right edge of the frame captured only minutes following DART's impact
   with target asteroid Dimorphos while LICIACube was about 80 kilometers
   away. Presently about 11 million kilometers from Earth, 160 meter
   diameter Dimorphos is a moonlet orbiting 780 meter diameter asteroid
   Didymos. Didymos is seen off center in the LICIACube image. Over the
   coming weeks, ground-based telescopic observations will look for a
   small change in Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos to evaluate how
   effectively the DART impact deflected its target.

                       Tomorrow's picture: 24 sunrises
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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