A study published in the journal showed that the asteroid Demorphos, which is undergoing a unique experiment to deviate its path, resembles a pile of debris from the larger asteroid Didymos that it orbits. Nature astronomy (A new window) (in English).
Dimorphos was struck in September 2022 by NASA's DART spacecraft to test the ability to deflect an asteroid that might hit Earth off course.
Asteroid Didymos (top left) and its satellite Demorphos, approximately 2.5 minutes before DART collided with the latter. The image was taken by a DRACO imager at a distance of 920 km.
Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins
The success of the mission, which took place about 11 million kilometers from Earth, can only be measured by the result of the collision with the Demorphos orbit around Didymos.
In this strange duo, the first star, about 160 meters in diameter, orbited the second star, 800 meters in diameter, in about 12 hours. The time was shortened by more than half an hour after the collision. The details were captured in images by a small Italian satellite that accompanied the DART mission, followed by telescopes from Earth.
According to the international team led by Sabina Raducan, a specialist in small celestial objects at the University of Bern, this data It indicates that Dimorphos is a pile of rubble
He summarizes his study.
According to the simulations, the only solutions we have found assume that Dimorphos was initially a very fragile star that offered very little resistance to the DART impact and its 610 kg weight
“, explains study co-author Patrick Michel, an astrophysicist at the Côte d'Azur Observatory.
fragility like The impact, instead of creating a crater only about ten meters in diameter, would have actually deformed the entire object.
The star adds this co-leader of the DART team.
Pebble field
Using the condition is necessary while waiting for the European Space Agency's (ESA) HERA probe, which is scheduled to arrive at Dimorphos in 2026, to come and examine the asteroid by more substantive means.
The dimorphos will consist of a heterogeneous aggregate based on silica, but not of the same type A sand field as in Saint-Tropez, and more of a gravel field as in the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, with rocks everywhere
Patrick Michel smiles. Subordinate Rocks
Rather small, with less than 40% of them larger than 2.5 metres, according to simulations supported by the last images taken by DART before the ship crashed.
Above all, the structure of the star, which the HERA low-frequency radar will be able to examine, will be very porous, which explains its fragility.
which works in favor of birth and growth, judging by the debris thrown up by his elder brother Didymus, which turns on itself like a crest, and which also has a small shape. With sufficient speed to expel part of its substance by centrifugal effect, which agglomerates to form dimorphose.
This in itself would be a good news
For Patrick Michel, by ensuring that a silicate asteroid like Dimorphos has almost the same behavior as more common carbonaceous asteroids, such as Bennu or Ryugu. That is, very little resistance
.
Therefore, we already know who we are dealing with, if in the distant future it is necessary to turn one direction to save the Earth. A big step forward because these things They have behavior that defies our intuition, since their environment is very different from Earth's
“, confirms the expert.
In 2029, the asteroid Apophis will pass near Earth, about 32 thousand kilometers away, providing… Natural laboratory
To study these stars, it is expected.
A mission is now being prepared to study the behavior of Apophis as it passes by without the need to touch it because it will be visible from Earth.
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