two large space telescopesnewest James Webb and the elder Hubble for the first time simultaneously aimed their cameras and photographed him the same heavenly goal: her successful self-destruction US spacecraft DART on a small asteroid amazing, last Monday evening. Something that turned out first planetary defense test for a future event where a larger space rock threatens Earth and must be rejected.

combined observations of two space telescopes, created jointly by the American (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), will allow scientists to obtain more knowledge on the nature of the surface of Dimorphos (160 meters in diameter), which is a satellite from the larger asteroid Gemini (780 meters), how much material was ejected into space on impact and at what speed.

What did the telescopes observe?

Among other things, it remains to be seen whether larger parts of the dimorph, in addition to small dust particles, were thrown on impact. All this information help draw conclusions how effectively such an impact can change the asteroid’s orbit.

Webb he made one observation before the impact and several after it, with more to come in the coming months. So far, Webb’s observations (with his near-infrared camera) include ten images and span more than five hours in total.

Hubble, for his part, made observations with his camera in the visible part of the spectrum, also before the impact, during it and again 15 minutes after it. A total of 45 images were required and additional observations followed over the next three weeks.

^{Source: APE-MEB}