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Dotto E, Deshapriya JDP, Gai I, Hasselmann PH, Mazzotta Epifani E, Poggiali G, Rossi A, Zanotti G, Zinzi A, Bertini I, Brucato JR, Dall'Ora M, Della Corte V, Ivanovski SL, Lucchetti A, Pajola M, Amoroso M, Barnouin O, Campo Bagatin A, Capannolo A, Caporali S, Ceresoli M, Chabot NL, Cheng AF, Cremonese G, Fahnestock EG, Farnham TL, Ferrari F, Gomez Casajus L, Gramigna E, Hirabayashi M, Ieva S, Impresario G, Jutzi M, Lasagni Manghi R, Lavagna M, Li JY, Lombardo M, Modenini D, Palumbo P, Perna D, Pirrotta S, Raducan SD, Richardson DC, Rivkin AS, Stickle AM, Sunshine JM, Tortora P, Tusberti F, Zannoni M. The Dimorphos ejecta plume properties revealed by LICIACube. Nature 2024; 627:505-509. [PMID: 38418881 PMCID: PMC10954540 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06998-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) had an impact with Dimorphos (a satellite of the asteroid Didymos) on 26 September 20221. Ground-based observations showed that the Didymos system brightened by a factor of 8.3 after the impact because of ejecta, returning to the pre-impact brightness 23.7 days afterwards2. Hubble Space Telescope observations made from 15 minutes after impact to 18.5 days after, with a spatial resolution of 2.1 kilometres per pixel, showed a complex evolution of the ejecta3, consistent with other asteroid impact events. The momentum enhancement factor, determined using the measured binary period change4, ranges between 2.2 and 4.9, depending on the assumptions about the mass and density of Dimorphos5. Here we report observations from the LUKE and LEIA instruments on the LICIACube cube satellite, which was deployed 15 days in advance of the impact of DART. Data were taken from 71 seconds before the impact until 320 seconds afterwards. The ejecta plume was a cone with an aperture angle of 140 ± 4 degrees. The inner region of the plume was blue, becoming redder with increasing distance from Dimorphos. The ejecta plume exhibited a complex and inhomogeneous structure, characterized by filaments, dust grains and single or clustered boulders. The ejecta velocities ranged from a few tens of metres per second to about 500 metres per second.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Dotto
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, INAF, Rome, Italy.
| | | | - I Gai
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | | | | | - G Poggiali
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, Florence, Italy
- Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, Paris, France
| | - A Rossi
- Istituto di Fisica Applicata 'Nello Carrara', CNR, Florence, Italy
| | | | - A Zinzi
- Space Science Data Center, ASI, Rome, Italy
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy
| | - I Bertini
- Università degli Studi di Napoli 'Parthenope', Naples, Italy
| | - J R Brucato
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, Florence, Italy
| | - M Dall'Ora
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, INAF, Naples, Italy
| | - V Della Corte
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, INAF, Naples, Italy
| | - S L Ivanovski
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, INAF, Trieste, Italy
| | - A Lucchetti
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, INAF, Padova, Italy
| | - M Pajola
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, INAF, Padova, Italy
| | - M Amoroso
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome, Italy
| | - O Barnouin
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | | | | | - S Caporali
- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, Florence, Italy
| | | | - N L Chabot
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - A F Cheng
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - G Cremonese
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, INAF, Padova, Italy
| | - E G Fahnestock
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - T L Farnham
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | | | - L Gomez Casajus
- Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca Industriale Aerospaziale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | - E Gramigna
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | | | - S Ieva
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, INAF, Rome, Italy
| | | | - M Jutzi
- Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - R Lasagni Manghi
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | | | - J-Y Li
- Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - M Lombardo
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | - D Modenini
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
- Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca Industriale Aerospaziale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | - P Palumbo
- Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, INAF, Rome, Italy
| | - D Perna
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, INAF, Rome, Italy
| | | | - S D Raducan
- Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - D C Richardson
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - A S Rivkin
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - A M Stickle
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - J M Sunshine
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - P Tortora
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
- Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca Industriale Aerospaziale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
| | - F Tusberti
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, INAF, Padova, Italy
| | - M Zannoni
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
- Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca Industriale Aerospaziale, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Forlì, Italy
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