Jakarta –
NASA once had a special project to crash a plane into an asteroid approaching the orbit of the Sun in 2022. In this project, an aircraft called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) hit the asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of 22,530 km per hour.
This Dimorphos orbits another asteroid called Didymos. These two asteroids pose no threat to Earth, but NASA wants to show the world that they can nudge an asteroid and change its trajectory.
This was done as a measure that may be useful if a planetary defense scenario is required in a future emergency.
The project concluded that the small DART craft shortened Dimorphos’ orbital period, or the time it takes to orbit Didymos, by about 33 minutes.
However, recently, NASA’s conclusions were said to be incomplete, according to findings in new research conducted by a teacher and high school students in California. Since September 2022, they have been observing the asteroid through their school observatory.
Dimorphos Orbit Reduced by One Minute Compared to NASA Reported Figures
Jonathan O’Callaghan New Scientistreported that after the DART spacecraft hit the asteroid, teacher and student observations showed that Dimorphos’ orbit was reduced by one minute compared to NASA’s figures.
These findings conclude that the asteroid’s orbital period is longer, namely 34 minutes.
“We tried our best to find gaps in what we had done, but we couldn’t find anything,” said Jonathan Swift, a math and science teacher at the Thacher School who took part in the research, quoted from Smithsonian Magazine.
According to the researchers, this unexpected finding is cause for concern. Because, before DART, no other mission had tried to test the durability of space objects.
On the other hand, researchers also believe that all space missions always have uncertainty.
“If an asteroid was built as a monolithic rock, similar to the rocks we find on Earth, its deflection and calculations would be easy,” Peter Veres, astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian.
According to Vares, if we hit an asteroid it would feel like hitting a sponge because these asteroids are often piles of large and small balls of dust and sometimes ice, with lots of empty space.
Observations of the Asteroids Dimorphos and Didymos
The Hubble Space Telescope has made 18 observations of Dimorphos and Didymos. The telescope’s observations showed that the first part of the tail from DART’s impact with Dimorphos was captured by photographers on Earth and a trail of debris stretching 6,000 miles was visible.
Hubble revealed that the second, more northerly tail formed between October 2 and 8, 2022, or one to two weeks after the impact.
Astronomers are not sure why these double tails are created, although this property is common in active asteroids and comets.
Something similar was also mentioned in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in July 2023, which stated that Dimorphos was surrounded by ‘rocks’ that broke apart when the DART plane hit it.
The debris consisted of 37 boulders ranging in size from 3 feet to 22 feet. According to NASA, a number of materials are thought to have emerged as a result of the accident and the DART collision last year was not intended to blow Dimorphos to pieces.
If there is a true threat from an asteroid, the explosion of rock fragments has the potential to reach Earth and could increase the danger to Earth.
But in the case of Dimorphos, none of these new rocks can damage the planet with its record distance. Currently the speed at which they were moving was half a mile per hour, or the equivalent of the speed at which a giant tortoise walked.
The Consequences of the DART Mission Continue to Be Studied
Until now, NASA continues to study Dimorphos to observe the consequences of previous DART missions. The European Space Agency also plans to launch the Hera spacecraft in October 2024.
It is estimated that the Hera aircraft will meet Dimorphos in December 2026 to get a clearer picture of what happened after the crash.
Meanwhile, the DART team discovered its own observations of the asteroid over the past year. According to their data, it is estimated that Dimorphos’ orbital period continues to decrease, even though it is only around 15 seconds.
“The Didymos-Dimorphos system has not been forgotten, and we will learn many new results and theories in the coming weeks. All of the unexpected findings from the DART mission will help us understand how the impact functioned and prepare for an effective kinetic impact mission if it is necessary to divert an object that has the potential to collide directly with Earth,” said Veres.
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2023-09-15 13:00:00
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