The astronomers used different instruments installed in the VLT project telescopes, located in Chile, to make their respective observations.
Two international groups of astronomers reported in separate articles their results on the followingmath of the impact of NASA’s DART probe once morest the asteroid Dimorphos, which had place in September of last year, reported this Tuesday the European Southern Observatory (ESO, for its acronym in English).
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The controlled collision, which occurred 11 million kilometers from Earth, might be observed by scientists using the four telescopes that are part of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) project. These optical devices are located at the Paranal Observatory, in the Atacama desert (Chile).
In the first investigation, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the evolution of the cloud composed of material ejected from the rocky object was examined for a month. These observations were made using the MUSE spectroscopic instrument, which is installed in the fourth telescope of the VLT.
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The specialists discovered that this cloud might be made up of very fine dust particles. They also found that, in the days following the crash, other structures were formed, such as cumulus clouds and spirals, as well as a long trail pushed by the pressure of solar radiation. In the case of the spirals and the contrail, it was suggested that they might be made of larger dust particles.
However, when trying to look for the presence of oxygen and water from the ice ejected by the impact, the researchers did not detect any of these elements. This is because, unlike comets, asteroids have small amounts of ice in their composition. The remains of the DART propellant were also not located.
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3/ They found clues indicating that the cloud might be made of very fine particles. In the hours/days that followed the impact other structures developed: clumps, spirals and a long tail pushed away by the Sun’s radiation. The spirals and tail might be made of larger particles. pic.twitter.com/Gh7I3y6pHB
— IT (@IT) March 21, 2023
The surface of Dimorphos was altered
Regarding the other study, published In The Astrophysical Journal Letters, it was explored how the collision of the ‘kamikaze’ spacecraft modified the surface of Dimorphos. To reach this conclusion, the astronomers monitored the rocky celestial body in polarized light using the FORS2 spectrograph, which was finds on the first telescope on the VLT.
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It was proposed that the alteration of the asteroid was due to the shock ejecting more material pristine (silicate rocks) inside. In addition, another possibility was hinted at that the impact destroyed dust particles on the surface, thus ejecting much smaller ones into the debris cloud.
5/ They found clues suggesting that the impact exposed more pristine material from the interior of the asteroid. Another possibility is that the impact destroyed particles on the surface, thus ejecting much smaller ones into the cloud of debris. pic.twitter.com/coMVrvwVng
— IT (@IT) March 21, 2023
‘This research took advantage of a unique opportunity when NASA struck an asteroid,’ commented astronomer Cyrielle Opitom of the University of Edinburgh in the UK, noting that this situation ‘cannot be repeated at any future facility’. “This makes VLT data around the time of impact extremely valuable for better understanding the nature of asteroids,” she concluded.
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