Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2023

20 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 ASTRO PUBLISHING pacted Dimorphos on 26 September 2022, slightly changing the trajec- tory of its orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos. The 37 ejected boulders range in size from 1 metre to 6.7 metres across, based on Hubble photome- try. They are drifting away from the asteroid at around one kilometre per hour. The total mass in these de- tected boulders is about 0.1% the mass of Dimorphos. The boulders are some of the faintest objects ever imaged in the Solar System. This opens up a new dimension for studying the aftermath of the DART experiment using the European Space Agency’s upcoming Hera mis- sion, which is due to launch in 2024. The spacecraft will perform a de- Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid Dimorphos by NASA/ESA Bethany Downer A stronomers using the NASA/ ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s extraordinary sensitivity have discovered a swarm of boulders that were possibly shaken off the aster- oid Dimorphos when NASA deliber- ately slammed the half-tonne DART impactor spacecraft into Dimorphos at approximately 22,500 kilometres per hour. DART intentionally im-