Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2022 September 29
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                       DART Asteroid Impact from Space
                       Image Credit: [3]ASI / [4]NASA

   Explanation: [5]Fifteen days before impact, the DART spacecraft
   deployed a small companion satellite to document its historic
   [6]planetary defense technology demonstration. Provided by the Italian
   Space Agency, the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids, aka
   LICIACube, [7]recorded this image of the event's aftermath. A cloud of
   ejecta is seen near the right edge of the frame captured only minutes
   [8]following DART's impact with target asteroid Dimorphos while
   LICIACube was about 80 kilometers away. Presently about 11 million
   kilometers from Earth, 160 meter diameter Dimorphos is a moonlet
   orbiting 780 meter diameter asteroid Didymos. Didymos is seen off
   center in the LICIACube image. Over the coming weeks, ground-based
   telescopic observations will look for a small change in Dimorphos'
   orbit [9]around Didymos to [10]evaluate how effectively the DART impact
   deflected its target.

                       Tomorrow's picture: 24 sunrises
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC,
                         [31]NASA Science Activation
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2209/liciacube_leia_l0_1664234215_00000_01_0.jpg
   3. https://www.asi.it/
   4. https://www.nasa.gov/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/dart-s-small-satellite-companion-takes-flight-ahead-of-impact
   6. https://www.nasa.gov/specials/pdco/index.html
   7. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-images-from-italian-space-agency-s-liciacube-satellite
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220927.html
   9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/didymos/in-depth/
  10. https://www.jhuapl.edu/NewsStory/220826b-dart-team-confirms-orbit-of-targeted-asteroid
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220928.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220929
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220930.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/