First Time Webb and Hubble Make Simultaneous Observations of the Same Target Two of NASA’s great observatories had a front-row seat to a groundbreaking NASA test for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope teamed u
, the asteroid moonlet in the double-asteroid system of Didymos on September 26, 2022, at 7:14 pm EDT. It was humanity’s first test of the kinetic impact mitigation technique, using a spacecraft collision to deflect an asteroid that poses no threat to Earth, and modifying the object’s orbit. DART is a test for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards.
Combined observations from Webb and Hubble will allow researchers to acquire knowledge about the nature of the surface of Dimorphos, how much material was ejected by the impact, and how fast it was ejected. In addition, Webb and Hubble captured the impact in different wavelengths of light – Webb in infrared and Hubble in visible. Observing the impact across a wide array of wavelengths will reveal the distribution of particle sizes in the expanding dust cloud.
Because of the asteroid’s speed of travel across the sky, observing the impact with Webb presented the flight operations, planning, and science teams with unique challenges. As DART approached its target, the teams performed additional work in the weeks leading up to the impact to facilitate and test a technique of tracking asteroids moving at speeds over three times faster than the original speed limit set for Webb.
Webb observed the impact over five hours total, capturing 10 images. The data was collected as part of Webb’s Cycle 1Hubble Images Show Movement of Ejecta After Impact
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DART asteroid crash seen by James Webb, Hubble space telescopes (photos)Tereza is a London-based science and technology journalist, aspiring fiction writer and amateur gymnast. Originally from Prague, the Czech Republic, she spent the first seven years of her career working as a reporter, script-writer and presenter for various TV programmes of the Czech Public Service Television. She later took a career break to pursue further education and added a Master's in Science from the International Space University, France, to her Bachelor's in Journalism and Master's in Cultural Anthropology from Prague's Charles University. She worked as a reporter at the Engineering and Technology magazine, freelanced for a range of publications including Live Science, Space.com, Professional Engineering, Via Satellite and Space News and served as a maternity cover science editor at the European Space Agency.
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