{"id":166080,"date":"2022-09-27T16:11:29","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=166080"},"modified":"2022-09-28T11:57:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T21:57:31","slug":"uh-astronomers-capture-historic-nasa-spacecraft-asteroid-collision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/27\/uh-astronomers-capture-historic-nasa-spacecraft-asteroid-collision\/","title":{"rendered":"糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> astronomers capture historic NASA<\/abbr> spacecraft, asteroid collision"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Images taken as NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s spacecraft slams into asteroid Dimorphos at about 14,000 miles per hour. Credit: NASA<\/abbr><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>) captured a historic moment of impact on Monday, September 27 as NASA<\/abbr> sent a 1,260-pound box-shaped spacecraft head-on into a non-threatening asteroid during a planetary defense exercise. NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART<\/abbr>) confirmed the space agency can successfully navigate a spacecraft to intentionally collide with and deflect an asteroid from its current path.<\/p>\n

Related: 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> astronomers to track impact of spacecraft, asteroid collision<\/a>, September 26, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

IfA<\/abbr> operates the NASA<\/abbr>-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System<\/a> or ATLAS<\/abbr>, which captured images taken every 40 seconds from the time of impact and shows the plume of dust blown off of the asteroid by the impacting DART<\/abbr> spacecraft.<\/p>\n

The state-of-the-art asteroid alert system is a four telescope system located in the northern hemisphere atop Haleakal\u0101 and Maunaloa and in the southern hemisphere in South Africa and Chile. ATLAS<\/abbr>\u2019 telescope in South Africa compiled images of Monday\u2019s planetary defense technology demonstration.<\/p>\n

“The ATLAS<\/abbr> telescope system was well positioned to observe the impact from Earth, and we were fortunate to have excellent weather at the ATLAS<\/abbr> telescope at Sutherland, South Africa,” said IfA<\/abbr> Astronomer Larry Denneau<\/strong>, an ATLAS<\/abbr> co-principal investigator.<\/p>\n

“Our robotic operation and automatic data processing were able to produce measurements minutes after each observation, giving scientists immediate feedback about the observable effects of the impact.”<\/p>\n

Asteroid impact early warning system<\/h2>\n
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Images taken at ATLAS every 40 seconds from the time of impact show the plume of dust after the collision (view animation<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ATLAS<\/abbr> system can provide one day\u2019s warning for a 20-meter diameter asteroid, capable of city-level destruction. Since larger asteroids can be detected further away, ATLAS<\/abbr> can provide up to three weeks\u2019 warning for a 100-meter asteroid, capable of wide regional devastation.<\/p>\n