NASA Hit an Asteroid. The Real Test Came After.

DART’s impact was spectacular. Establishing what it changed required a different kind of evidence. Neither Dimorphos nor Didymos posed a threat to Earth in this test. Follow the final camera images, LICIACube’s view, radar, telescope observations, and the modeled change in shape. Researchers ultimately measured an orbital period about 33 minutes and 15 seconds shorter than before impact. A modeled shape is not a photograph—and the collision alone was not the whole result. CHAPTERS 00:00 Impact is only the beginning 00:33 The spacecraft and the target 01:57 The last camera view 02:54 Measuring a changed orbit 03:39 Shape inferred from evidence 04:45 Radar, dust, and distant telescopes 06:20 What planetary defense learned