PARIS: Last year, a successful NASA spacecraft knocked an asteroid off course. It caused 37 boulders to scatter into space, as shown by Hubble telescope images.
The DART probe collided with the asteroid Dimorphos. It is located about 11 million kilometers from Earth, testing planetary defense for the first time.
The boulders, ranging from one to seven meters in size, constitute about 2% of the previously scattered boulders on the asteroid’s surface, according to scientists’ estimations.
Although these boulders do not pose any threat to Earth and are drifting away slowly. They indicate that future missions to divert life-threatening asteroids may also release boulders in our direction.
The European Space Agency’s Hera mission, scheduled to arrive at the asteroid in late 2026, will have an opportunity to inspect the boulders since they are moving at a slow pace.
David Jewitt, a planetary scientist at the University of California, explained that the boulder cloud will still be dispersing when Hera reaches the asteroid.
The Hubble telescope’s “spectacular observation” provides valuable insight into the aftermath of an asteroid collision, revealing material being ejected.
The faintness of the boulders makes them among the least imaged objects in our solar system. Jewitt’s team intends to continue tracking the boulders to understand their trajectory and how they were propelled off the surface. Their findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
