Asteroid Behaving Unexpectedly After NASA's Deliberate DART Crash (bbc.co.uk) 36
One year ago NASA crashed its DART spacecraft into the asteroid "Dimorphos" (which orbits around a much larger asteroid named "Didymos"). The BBC calls the mission "part of an experiment to change the space rock's direction and test Earth's defences against asteroids in the future.
"However, a teacher and his class studying the rock have now discovered that since the collision, it has moved in a strange and unexpected way." [U]sing their school telescope, a team of children and their teacher Jonathan Swift at Thacher School in California have found that more than a month after the collision, Dimorphos' orbit continuously slowed after impact... which is unusual and unexpected. As reported in the New Scientist, the team presented their findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
After discovering the unusual behaviour of Dimorphos, it's likely that Nasa will have to factor in the high school's findings, if they ever launch another asteroid redirection mission in the future... One explanation for the asteroid's orbit continuing to change so long after the Dart collision is that material thrown up by the impact, including rocks several metres across, eventually fell back onto the surface of the asteroid, changing its orbit even more. The European Space Agency is launching a mission called Hera, which will arrive at Dimorphos in 2026 and could reveal more details as to what happened to the asteroid following the impact.
"However, a teacher and his class studying the rock have now discovered that since the collision, it has moved in a strange and unexpected way." [U]sing their school telescope, a team of children and their teacher Jonathan Swift at Thacher School in California have found that more than a month after the collision, Dimorphos' orbit continuously slowed after impact... which is unusual and unexpected. As reported in the New Scientist, the team presented their findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
After discovering the unusual behaviour of Dimorphos, it's likely that Nasa will have to factor in the high school's findings, if they ever launch another asteroid redirection mission in the future... One explanation for the asteroid's orbit continuing to change so long after the Dart collision is that material thrown up by the impact, including rocks several metres across, eventually fell back onto the surface of the asteroid, changing its orbit even more. The European Space Agency is launching a mission called Hera, which will arrive at Dimorphos in 2026 and could reveal more details as to what happened to the asteroid following the impact.
Something I didn't understand happened, thus (Score:3)
Aliens!
There are two ways to determine the orbit of a binary asteroid from Earth: radar imaging if it comes close enough for radar and photometry vs time otherwise.
The latter is what's used for this particular binary asteroid. And if y'all recall the massive dust cloud that got kicked up after the impact, perhaps one wouldn't expect as clean a signal after the collision as before.
So sure it might be rocks settling back on one or both of the asteroids and transferring momentum. Or it could be clumps of dust settling into a third object or more likely an irregular debris ring messing with the photometric signature. Or it could be something else that no one has thought likely. Like aliens.
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Either our laws of physics are fundamentally wrong, or some high school students made a math error.
Re: Something I didn't understand happened, thus (Score:2)
Hmm. On the one hand, the theory of orbital mechanics is backed by centuries of empirical confirmation. On the other hand...are these high school kids suitably photogenic and do any of them have backstories that tug at the heart and put a tear in the eye?
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Hmm. On the one hand, the theory of orbital mechanics is backed by centuries of empirical confirmation. On the other hand...are these high school kids suitably photogenic and do any of them have backstories that tug at the heart and put a tear in the eye?
That is a rich kids private high school and boarding school ... so I am told by people that would know.
Used to be an almost ALL WHITE private school ... unless you had piles of folding green to flash ... according to people I know that live near that school.
So all those spoiled rotten Sylvesters and Muffies will definitely be photogenic with very expensive dental work to show off.
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I hope it doen't retaliate. (Score:3)
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ChatGPT Humor (Score:1)
Why did Dimorphos become the star student at Thacher School in California?
Because it showed that even after a NASA crash course, it still had the orbital discipline to slow down and study!
Who gets mystified? (Score:2)
Re: Who gets mystified? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why does this sound like a hand-wavy explanation containing no math even to back it up, just words with margins of error so wide the story could be true, or not?
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I'd bet more on tidal forces than returning debris - the impact was small but energetic, I'd anticipate a lot of the debris would have exceeded local system escape velocity.
The gravitational interactions are well understood and we have this big rock orbiting us every 28 days reminding us constantly as it lengthens our days and retreats from us very slowly. And then there's all that water sloshing around all the time.
While the specifics might be interesting, if this type of interaction is 'surprising' it is
It's Not Happy. (Score:4, Funny)
It takes a while to turn around, but rest assured it is coming for revenge.
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That would be so cool if it were true.
So NASA did not observe the results themselves? (Score:2, Troll)
What kind of half-assed, incompetent "Science" is NASA doing? Or is this the usual, extremely shoddy "reporting" that is so common these days?
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What kind of half-assed, incompetent "Science" is NASA doing? Or is this the usual, extremely shoddy "reporting" that is so common these days?
They did but have kept quiet because they discovered the asteroids are now on a collision course for Earth they they're busy rounding up deep-core drillers and Russian nukes (not reserved for Ukraine) to send up, along with some Aerosmith tracks, in a giant gonvernemt-built-in-secret spaceship named "The Messiah," to destroy the asteroids. I'm half surprised the high school teacher hasn't died in a car accident during a (for some reason) rushed attempt to send the info to NASA about something that won't h
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NASA rarely does these observations itself. They mostly provide the framework for others to collect and review the data. Even when it is a NASA-specific project, they usually farm it out by contract to academics.
Jonathan Swift huh (Score:2)
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Re:Is this evidence that gravity is wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Are you a slave to your passions?
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Learn how scientific thinking works and remove your passion for outlandish explanations.
Re: Is this evidence that gravity is wrong? (Score:1)
What is the likelihood the current model of gravity will be as wrong as Aristotle's in a few centuries, even though Aristotle's model built bridges that stand today? In other words, are your likely scenarios just epicycles while I'm like Aristarchus proposing a heliocentric theory?
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This does not show that our understanding of gravity is wrong (which of course remains possible; science is an adversarial project of falsification anyway). This shows how complex multi-body problems are.
Also: think a little bit. It is a JOURNALIST who says the motion of the asteroid is "unusual." Unusual and unexpected are not synonyms.
By definition, whatever happens due to gravity is not unusual, even if it is unexpected (e.g. factors left out of a calculation).
Well, duh (Score:4, Funny)
of course it's realigning.
It had assumed earth to be peaceful.
Now it knows otherwise, and is realizing its destructos to use at closest approach!
NASA aren't Monitoring It? (Score:2)
it's likely that Nasa will have to factor in the high school's findings
So NASA spent $millions on shooting at this thing, and then rely on some schoolkids with a telescope to report the results. I guess NASA ran out of money.
Source article in New Scientist (Score:2)
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I'm saying it: Aliens. (Score:2)
It knows ... (Score:2)
And, for future reference; asteroids, like elephants, have long memories.