Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models
The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully crashed on Dimorphos, the secondary component of the binary (65803) Didymos system. Following the impact, a large dust cloud was released, and a long-lasting dust tail developed. We have extensively monitored the dust tail from...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Planetary Science Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ace827 |
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| author | Fernando Moreno Adriano Campo Bagatin Gonzalo Tancredi Jian-Yang Li Alessandro Rossi Fabio Ferrari Masatoshi Hirabayashi Eugene Fahnestock Alain Maury Robert Sandness Andrew S. Rivkin Andy Cheng Tony L. Farnham Stefania Soldini Carmine Giordano Gianmario Merisio Paolo Panicucci Mattia Pugliatti Alberto J. Castro-Tirado Emilio Fernández-García ignacio Pérez-García Stavro Ivanovski Antti Penttila Ludmilla Kolokolova Javier Licandro Olga Muñoz Zuri Gray Jose L. Ortiz Zhong-Yi Lin |
| author_facet | Fernando Moreno Adriano Campo Bagatin Gonzalo Tancredi Jian-Yang Li Alessandro Rossi Fabio Ferrari Masatoshi Hirabayashi Eugene Fahnestock Alain Maury Robert Sandness Andrew S. Rivkin Andy Cheng Tony L. Farnham Stefania Soldini Carmine Giordano Gianmario Merisio Paolo Panicucci Mattia Pugliatti Alberto J. Castro-Tirado Emilio Fernández-García ignacio Pérez-García Stavro Ivanovski Antti Penttila Ludmilla Kolokolova Javier Licandro Olga Muñoz Zuri Gray Jose L. Ortiz Zhong-Yi Lin |
| author_sort | Fernando Moreno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully crashed on Dimorphos, the secondary component of the binary (65803) Didymos system. Following the impact, a large dust cloud was released, and a long-lasting dust tail developed. We have extensively monitored the dust tail from the ground and the Hubble Space Telescope. We provide a characterization of the ejecta dust properties, i.e., particle size distribution and ejection speeds, ejection geometric parameters, and mass, by combining both observational data sets and using Monte Carlo models of the observed dust tail. The size distribution function that best fits the imaging data is a broken power law having a power index of –2.5 for particles of r ≤ 3 mm and –3.7 for larger particles. The particles range in size from 1 μ m up to 5 cm. The ejecta is characterized by two components, depending on velocity and ejection direction. The northern component of the double tail, observed since 2022 October 8, might be associated with a secondary ejection event from impacting debris on Didymos, although is also possible that this feature results from the binary system dynamics alone. The lower limit to the total dust mass ejected is estimated at ∼6 × 10 ^6 kg, half of this mass being ejected to interplanetary space. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:35:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ddcd708b71f4e1b906f40cdf9380701 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2632-3338 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:35:10Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Planetary Science Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ddcd708b71f4e1b906f40cdf93807012024-02-03T10:22:43ZengIOP PublishingThe Planetary Science Journal2632-33382023-01-014813810.3847/PSJ/ace827Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo ModelsFernando Moreno0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0670-356XAdriano Campo Bagatin1Gonzalo Tancredi2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4943-8623Jian-Yang Li3Alessandro Rossi4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9311-2869Fabio Ferrari5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7537-4996Masatoshi Hirabayashi6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1821-5689Eugene Fahnestock7Alain Maury8Robert Sandness9Andrew S. Rivkin10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9939-9976Andy Cheng11Tony L. Farnham12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4767-9861Stefania Soldini13Carmine Giordano14Gianmario Merisio15Paolo Panicucci16Mattia Pugliatti17Alberto J. Castro-Tirado18Emilio Fernández-García19ignacio Pérez-García20Stavro Ivanovski21Antti Penttila22Ludmilla Kolokolova23https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9321-3202Javier Licandro24https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9214-337XOlga Muñoz25Zuri Gray26Jose L. Ortiz27https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8690-2413Zhong-Yi Lin28Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, SpainInstituto de Fìsica Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías (IUFACyT), Universidad de Alicante , San Vicent del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, Spain; Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal Universidad de Alicante , San Vicent del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, SpainDepartamento de Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias , Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, UruguayPlanetary Science Institute , Tucson, AZ, USAFAC-CNR , Via Madonna del Piano 10, I-50142, Sesto Fiorentino, ItalyDepartment of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, ItalyAuburn University , Auburn, AL, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA, USASPACEOBS , San Pedro de Atacama, ChileSPACEOBS , San Pedro de Atacama, ChileJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USAJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USAUniversity of Maryland , Department of Astronomy, College Park, MD, USADepartment of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, University of Liverpool , Liverpool, UKDepartment of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, ItalyDepartment of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, ItalyDepartment of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, ItalyDepartment of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, ItalyInstituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain; Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Escuela de Ingenierías, Universidad de Málaga , Málaga, SpainInstituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, SpainInstituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, SpainINAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo, 11, Trieste, ItalyDepartment of Physics, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, University of Helsinki , FinlandDepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD, USAInstituto de Astrofísica de Canarias C/Vía Láctea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna, Spain; Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna , E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, SpainInstituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, SpainArmagh Observatory & Planetarium , College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG, UK; Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London , Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UKInstituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, SpainInstitute of Astronomy, National Central University , No. 300, Zhongda Road, Zhongli Dist., Taoyuan City 32001, TaiwanThe NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully crashed on Dimorphos, the secondary component of the binary (65803) Didymos system. Following the impact, a large dust cloud was released, and a long-lasting dust tail developed. We have extensively monitored the dust tail from the ground and the Hubble Space Telescope. We provide a characterization of the ejecta dust properties, i.e., particle size distribution and ejection speeds, ejection geometric parameters, and mass, by combining both observational data sets and using Monte Carlo models of the observed dust tail. The size distribution function that best fits the imaging data is a broken power law having a power index of –2.5 for particles of r ≤ 3 mm and –3.7 for larger particles. The particles range in size from 1 μ m up to 5 cm. The ejecta is characterized by two components, depending on velocity and ejection direction. The northern component of the double tail, observed since 2022 October 8, might be associated with a secondary ejection event from impacting debris on Didymos, although is also possible that this feature results from the binary system dynamics alone. The lower limit to the total dust mass ejected is estimated at ∼6 × 10 ^6 kg, half of this mass being ejected to interplanetary space.https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ace827Asteroid dynamics |
| spellingShingle | Fernando Moreno Adriano Campo Bagatin Gonzalo Tancredi Jian-Yang Li Alessandro Rossi Fabio Ferrari Masatoshi Hirabayashi Eugene Fahnestock Alain Maury Robert Sandness Andrew S. Rivkin Andy Cheng Tony L. Farnham Stefania Soldini Carmine Giordano Gianmario Merisio Paolo Panicucci Mattia Pugliatti Alberto J. Castro-Tirado Emilio Fernández-García ignacio Pérez-García Stavro Ivanovski Antti Penttila Ludmilla Kolokolova Javier Licandro Olga Muñoz Zuri Gray Jose L. Ortiz Zhong-Yi Lin Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models The Planetary Science Journal Asteroid dynamics |
| title | Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models |
| title_full | Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models |
| title_fullStr | Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models |
| title_short | Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models |
| title_sort | characterization of the ejecta from the nasa dart impact on dimorphos observations and monte carlo models |
| topic | Asteroid dynamics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ace827 |
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