I notice that illustrators still want to draw asteroids as smooth cratered objects, when as the photo shows they are more often loose agglomerations of space gravel and dust. This very looseness is what makes it so hard to push or shatter them - it’s like punching sand. We’ll see how much DART manages to shift it, but it does look the kinetic impact had measurable effects this time.
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Remember, it only needs to nudge it ever so slightly. Since everything is moving in the solar system, it doesn’t take much of an alteration to make it miss the Earth entirely (if this were a real danger event).
Another possibility I’ve heard is painting the side of the asteroid facing the sun white, which would be enough for the sun to push it into a new orbit.
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Yes, tiny changes make a big difference out there away from nearby gravity sources. I’ve heard the painting idea as well, sort of turns the asteroid into a solar sail. One interesting consequence of the DART-style impact method is that it could create a cloud of small particles that, if on an Earthward trajectory, could turn into a new meteor shower.
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Images of the impact and its aftermath are beginning to trickle down from DART’s companion cubesat, LICIACube:
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I’m wondering why this is in the ‘In memoriam’ thread.
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I assume in memory of DART.
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You’re right, this ought to be in a thread of its own.
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Ok, now that we’re over here-
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The image from ATLAS @RRRob posted suggests this as well — I wonder how much energy went into that plume (kinetically and thermally). From the direction of travel I’d say most of it came from DART as well.
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So was its orbit altered sufficiently? Do we know yet?
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Probably be weeks yet before we know; timing the duration of Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos and seeing which way it trends.
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I didn’t see this thread before. Alas.
Now, lest anyone get the wrong idea (as some of my friends have), if Jupiter is up, you can always see it. It’s one of the brighter objects in the night sky no matter where it’s at in its orbit. Right now, it’s simply brighter than usual.
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As long as we don’t start seeing the posts showing Jupiter waxing or waning in our sky like a giant companion planet (ala Mars everytime it reaches perigee) 
It’s just going to be a bit brighter, kids. It’s not going to hang in our sky like some sort of sci-fi prop. LOL!
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I was just talking to my coworker today about Mars and how people always talk about it looking as big as the Moon in the sky. I said, “Yeah, only if it was about to hit us.”
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That would be a fascinating few seconds, though.
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