Dataset Information

Orbital period change of Dimorphos due to the DART kinetic impact.

ABSTRACT: The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully performed the first test of a kinetic impactor for asteroid deflection by impacting Dimorphos, the secondary of near-Earth binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, and changing the orbital period of Dimorphos. A change in orbital period of approximately 7 min was expected if the incident momentum from the DART spacecraft was directly transferred to the asteroid target in a perfectly inelastic collision¹, but studies of the probable impact conditions and asteroid properties indicated that a considerable momentum enhancement (β) was possible^2,3. In the years before impact, we used lightcurve observations to accurately determine the pre-impact orbit parameters of Dimorphos with respect to Didymos^4-6. Here we report the change in the orbital period of Dimorphos as a result of the DART kinetic impact to be -33.0 ± 1.0 (3σ) min. Using new Earth-based lightcurve and radar observations, two independent approaches determined identical values for the change in the orbital period. This large orbit period change suggests that ejecta contributed a substantial amount of momentum to the asteroid beyond what the DART spacecraft carried.

SUBMITTER: Thomas CA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10115635 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Orbital period change of Dimorphos due to the DART kinetic impact.

Thomas Cristina A CA Naidu Shantanu P SP Scheirich Peter P Moskovitz Nicholas A NA Pravec Petr P Chesley Steven R SR Rivkin Andrew S AS Osip David J DJ Lister Tim A TA Benner Lance A M LAM Brozović Marina M Contreras Carlos C Morrell Nidia N Rożek Agata A Kušnirák Peter P Hornoch Kamil K Mages Declan D Taylor Patrick A PA Seymour Andrew D AD Snodgrass Colin C Jørgensen Uffe G UG Dominik Martin M Skiff Brian B Polakis Tom T Knight Matthew M MM Farnham Tony L TL Giorgini Jon D JD Rush Brian B Bellerose Julie J Salas Pedro P Armentrout William P WP Watts Galen G Busch Michael W MW Chatelain Joseph J Gomez Edward E Greenstreet Sarah S Phillips Liz L Bonavita Mariangela M Burgdorf Martin J MJ Khalouei Elahe E Longa-Peña Penélope P Rabus Markus M Sajadian Sedighe S Chabot Nancy L NL Cheng Andrew F AF Ryan William H WH Ryan Eileen V EV Holt Carrie E CE Agrusa Harrison F HF

Nature 20230301 7957

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully performed the first test of a kinetic impactor for asteroid deflection by impacting Dimorphos, the secondary of near-Earth binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, and changing the orbital period of Dimorphos. A change in orbital period of approximately 7 min was expected if the incident momentum from the DART spacecraft was directly transferred to the asteroid target in a perfectly inelastic collision<sup>1</sup>, but studies of the pr ...[more]

PMID: 36858072

Similar Datasets

Project description:Human impact influences morphological variation in animals, as documented in many captive and domestic animal populations. However, there are different levels of human impact, and their influence on the pattern and rate of morphological variation remains unclear. This study contributes to the ongoing debate via the examination of cranial and mandibular shape and size variation and pace of change in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). This species is ideal for tackling such questions because different wild, wild-provisioned, and captive populations have been monitored and collected over seven decades. Linear measurements were taken on 70 skulls from five populations, grouped into three 'human impact groups' (wild, wild-provisioned, and captive). This made it possible to investigate the pattern and pace of skull form changes among the human impact groups as well as over time within the populations. It was found that the overall skull shape tends to differ among the human impact groups, with captive macaques having relatively longer rostra than wild ones. Whether these differences are a result of geographic variation or variable human impact, related to nutritional supply and mechanical properties of the diet, is unclear. However, this pattern of directed changes did not seem to hold when the single captive populations were examined in detail. Although environmental conditions have probably been similar for the two examined captive populations (same captive locality), skull shape changes over the first generations in captivity were mostly different. This varying pattern, together with a consistent decrease in body size in the captive populations over generations, points to genetic drift playing a role in shaping skull shape and body size in captivity. In the captive groups investigated here, the rates of change were found to be high compared to literature records from settings featuring different degrees of human impact in different species, although they still lie in the range of field studies in a natural context. This adds to the view that human impact might not necessarily lead to particularly fast rates of change.

Dataset Information

Orbital period change of Dimorphos due to the DART kinetic impact.

Publications

Orbital period change of Dimorphos due to the DART kinetic impact.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets