Ejecta from the DART-produced active asteroid Dimorphos

Li, Jian‐Yang; Hirabayashi, Masatoshi; Farnham, T. L.; Sunshine, J. M.; Knight, Matthew M.; Tancredi, G.; Moreno, Fernando; Murphy, Brian; Opitom, Cyrielle; Chesley, S. R.; Scheeres, Daniel J.; Thomas, C. A.; Fahnestock, Eugene G.; Cheng, A.; Dressel, Linda; Ernst, C. M.; Ferrari, Fábio; Fitzsimmons, A.; Ieva, S.; Ivanovski, Stavro; Kareta, Teddy; Kolokolova, L.; Lister, Tim; Raducan, Sabina D.; Rivkin, A. S.; Rossi, Alessandro; Soldini, Stefania; Stickle, A. M.; Vick, Alison; Vincent, Jean‐Baptiste; Weaver, H. A.; Bagnulo, S.; Bannister, Michele T.; Cambioni, Saverio; Bagatín, Adriano Campo; Chabot, N. L.; Cremonese, G.; Daly, R. T.; Dotto, E.; Glenar, D. A.; Granvik, Mikael; Hasselmann, P. H.; Herreros, Isabel; Jacobson, Seth A.; Jutzi, Martin; Kohout, T.; Forgia, Fiorangela La; Lazzarin, M.; Lin, Zhong-Yi; Lolachi, R.; Lucchetti, Alice; Makadia, Rahil; Epifani, E. Mazzotta; Michel, Patrick; Migliorini, A.; Moskovitz, Nicholas; Ormö, Jens; Pajola, M.; Sánchez, Paul; Schwartz, S. R.; Snodgrass, C.; Steckloff, Jordan K.; Stubbs, T. J.; Trigo-Rodríguez, J. M.

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05811-4

Cited by 62 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…The diameter distribution measured from the 36 boulders in Figure 1 showing roll-over at D b 4 m (shaded background). A least-squares differential power-law fit to the 15 boulders with D b > 4 m is shown as a solid line; slope q = −3.9 ± 1.5. q = −3.7 ± 0.2 for particles in the millimeter to centimeter size range (Li et al 2023).…”

Section: Photometrymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The multiple spikes on the (saturated) image of Didymos-Dimorphos are the telescope diffraction spikes and CCD charge transfer trails of individual images rotated to bring the field of view into alignment. The most prominent feature of the image is the debris trail (see Graykowski et al 2023;Li et al 2023), which extends between the projected antisolar and projected orbit directions, and which is caused by the action of solar radiation pressure on centimeter particles. The 2022 December 19 composite also shows a set of point sources comoving with Dimorphos.…”

Section: Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dimorphos was impacted by the NASA DART spacecraft on UT 2022 September 26, resulting in the ejection of debris and the formation of a long, comet-like tail swept in the antisolar direction by solar radiation pressure (Graykowski et al 2023;Li et al 2023). The impact is scientifically interesting both as a way to study the mechanical response of a rubble pile to an energetic collision and as a well-characterized analog of certain active asteroids in which mass loss has been shown to result from impact (Jewitt et al 2010;Kim et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Dimorphos Boulder Swarm

Jewitt¹,

Kim

Li³

et al. 2023

ApJL

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We present deep Hubble Space Telescope images taken to examine the ejecta from the DART spacecraft impact into asteroid Dimorphos. The images reveal an extensive population of comoving boulders, the largest of which is ∼7 m in diameter (geometric albedo 0.15 assumed). Measurements of 37 boulders show a mean sky-plane velocity dispersion of 0.30 ± 0.03 m s−1, only slightly larger than the 0.24 m s−1 gravitational escape velocity from the Didymos–Dimorphos binary system. The total boulder mass, M b ∼ 5 × 106 kg (density 2200 kg m−3 assumed), corresponds to about 0.1% of the mass of Dimorphos, and the boulders collectively carry about 3 × 10−5 of the kinetic energy delivered by the DART spacecraft impact. The sky-plane distribution of the boulders is asymmetric, consistent with impact into an inhomogeneous, likely rubble-pile, body. Surface boulder counts on Didymos show that the observed boulder swarm could be ejected from as little as 2% of the surface of Dimorphos (for example, a circular crater at the impact point about 50 m in diameter). The large, slow-moving boulders are potential targets to be investigated in situ by the upcoming ESA HERA mission.

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Section: Photometrymentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Dimorphos Boulder Swarm

Jewitt¹,

Kim

Li³

et al. 2023

ApJL

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“…Furthermore, in NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, an artificial satellite impacted Dimorphos, which is a moon of 65803 Didymos (e.g., Rivkin et al 2021;Raducan et al 2022;Daly et al 2023). In this mission, a conical ejecta with complex pattern was observed but no vertical plume was observed (Li et al 2023). Thus, though the ejecta distribution seems to depend on the projectile's structure, the ejecta distribution in the case of a hollow or internally structured projectile and a granular target has not been systematically investigated, and the mechanism through which the vertical plume is generated has not been clarified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Observation of Vertically Ejected Plumes Generated by the Impact of Hollow Projectiles at Various Velocities

et al. 2023

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Recently, impact experiments in space have been conducted in planetary exploration using hollow or internally structured projectiles. In laboratory experiments using hollow projectiles to investigate the differences in crater and ejecta from the case of solid projectiles, a plume perpendicular to the target surface has been observed, which has not been seen in conventional cratering experiments using solid projectiles. In this study, we conducted crater-formation experiments using hollow resin projectiles to understand the mechanism through which vertical plumes form in the case of hollow projectiles. We examined the generation of a vertical plume as a function of the impact velocity, v imp. We found that (i) no vertical plume occurs at v imp < 200 m s−1, (ii) the cases with or without a vertical plume are mixed at 200 < v imp < 350 m s−1, (iii) no vertical plume occurs at 350 < v imp < 800 m s−1, and (iv) a vertical plume occurs at 2 < v imp < 3 km s−1. We qualitatively discussed the generation mechanism of the vertical plume using the results of recovered projectiles. Depending on v imp, an empty hole in which there is no projectile materials can be opened along the central axis, resulting in the generation of a vertical plume.

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“…These skywatchers are among the authors of a study in Nature that describes how the asteroid, named Dimorphos, became temporarily brighter and redder as the spacecraft hit it 1 . One of five papers about the impact published in Nature [1][2][3][4][5] , it describes a real-time view of a cosmic collision -similar to that when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter in July 1994.…”

Section: Asteroid Collision Shows How Much Amateur Astronomers Have T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Asteroid collision shows how much amateur astronomers have to offer

2023

Nature

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Ejecta from the DART-produced active asteroid Dimorphos

Cited by 62 publications

References 39 publications

The Dimorphos Boulder Swarm

The Dimorphos Boulder Swarm

Observation of Vertically Ejected Plumes Generated by the Impact of Hollow Projectiles at Various Velocities

Asteroid collision shows how much amateur astronomers have to offer

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