NASA on Tuesday said it had succeeded in deflecting an asteroid in a historic test of humanity's ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.
The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos, said NASA chief Bill Nelson.
Astronomers rejoiced in stunning images of matter spreading out thousands of miles in the wake of the impact—pictures collected by Earth and space telescopes, as well as a mini satellite that had traveled to the zone with DART. Ahead of the test, NASA scientists said the results of the experiment would reveal whether the asteroid is aIf an asteroid is more solid, the momentum imparted by a spaceship will be limited. But if it is"fluffy" and significant mass is pushed atBoth Webb and Hubble observed the asteroid before and after the collision took place.
An asteroid the size of Dimorphos, by contrast, would only cause a regional impact, such as devastating a city.
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