DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Hubble and James Webb telescopes both capture the moment when DART spacecraft slammed into asteroid

Sep 30, 2022 by Alex Baker Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

It’s not every day that NASA sends a $300 million spacecraft to smash deliberately into an asteroid. But that is exactly what happened this week with the DART mission. Allegedly the mission was successful and we now know that science-fiction end of the world by asteroid scenarios could potentially be avoided in real life. And we don’t even need Bruce Willis.

Another first was made as well during the mission. It was the first time that telescopes Hubble and James Webb made observations of the same object simultaneously.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope teamed up to collect data before and after NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally slammed into Dimorphos, the asteroid moonlet in the double-asteroid system of Didymos, at nearly 15,000 miles per hour.

The combined capabilities of Webb and Hubble together —on the same target, at the same time— will allow scientists to analyze a wide array of data relating to the makeup and history of our solar system. It’s also pretty interesting to compare the two sets of images from both telescopes.

“For the first time, Webb and Hubble have simultaneously captured imagery from the same target in the cosmos: an asteroid that was impacted by a spacecraft after a seven-million-mile journey,” says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “All of humanity eagerly awaits the discoveries to come from Webb, Hubble, and our ground-based telescopes – about the DART mission and beyond.”

Observations from Webb and Hubble together will allow scientists to gain knowledge about the nature of the surface of Dimorphos, how much material was ejected by the collision, and how fast it was ejected. Additionally, Webb and Hubble captured the impact in different wavelengths of light – Webb in infrared and Hubble in visible. That’s why the images are different colours.

Check out Hubble’s “after” shots from #DARTMission impact!

Earlier this week, @NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into Dimorphos, a non-threatening asteroid moonlet in the double-asteroid system of Didymos, in a test of planetary defense: https://t.co/pe2qeFDYoS pic.twitter.com/VQ5X1pQlEy

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) September 29, 2022

Observing the impact across a wide array of wavelengths will reveal the distribution of particle sizes in the expanding dust cloud, helping to determine whether it threw off lots of big chunks or mostly fine dust. Combining this information, along with ground-based telescope observations, will help scientists to understand how effectively a kinetic impact can modify an asteroid’s orbit.

Hubble captured 45 images in the time immediately before and following DART’s impact with Dimorphos. “This is an unprecedented view of an unprecedented event,” summarized Andy Rivkin, DART Investigation Team Lead of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

We’ve certainly lived through a lot of historical events in the past few years. Let’s just hope that the conspiracy theories are wrong about NASA doing a practice run on an asteroid because there actually is an asteroid hurtling towards earth!

Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

james webb hubbleThis is how James Webb’s super-detailed photos compare to Hubble’s Hubble? James Webb? No, these “space photos” are gasoline puddles on a parking lot Hubble captures photo of asteroid worth 70,000 times the global economy The Disposable Camera Astronauts Have Sent On A Suicide Mission To Capture Photos Of Burning Spacecraft

Filed Under: news Tagged With: asteroid, DART, Hubble, james webb telescope, NASA

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.net

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

« XenceLabs versus Wacom – there’s a clear winner
Oh look, now Twitter has Reels too »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Ace your next portrait shoot with these composition tips
  • This is how to get photography clients on Instagram – even with few followers
  • “I prefer using smaller cameras” – an unorthodox take on size
  • A pigeon scares a meteorologist as it photobombs a live camera
  • Photographer files lawsuit against NFL receiver and teams after shoving incident

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy