The rocket — and the Orion spacecraft on top — are now back inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building. Facing menacing forecasts, NASA decided to roll it away from the launchpad yesterday.
Just Google for “NASA DART.” You’re welcome.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) scored a hit on the asteroid Dimorphos, but as Mary Beth Griggs explains, the real science work is just beginning.
Now planetary scientists will wait to see how the impact changed the asteroid’s orbit, and to download pictures from DART’s LICIACube satellite which had a front-row seat to the crash.
At 7:14PM ET, a NASA spacecraft is going to smash into an asteroid! Coverage of the collision — called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test — is now live.
NASA describes the image as the clearest view of Neptune’s rings in over 30 years, some of which haven’t been detected since Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989. Webb was also able to capture seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons, with Triton appearing so bright it almost looks like a star.
The Ice Giant appeared deep blue in images previously taken by the Hubble space telescope due to methane in its atmosphere, but these images using the Webb telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera give it an altogether more ethereal look.
