Last September, the dart mission NASA succeeded for the first time in deliberately diverting an asteroid’s orbit. This event is useful for any incident that endangers the planet in the future. However, after this event it has also been possible study the composition of asteroids and thus have more information about the birth of the planet.

Two studies have been published so far, both focus on using different instruments, but all focus on the same telescope: the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Thanks to the instruments MUSE and FORS2 were able to measure very specific parameters of the dust cloud released by the DART impact and thus determine the composition of the dust cloud Dimorphos asteroid.

Asteroids are one of the links in the chain that ends with the formation of new planets. If you know what they are composed of, you can determine the origin of the planet.

DART mission

NASA’s DART mission successfully deflected a 160-meter-diameter asteroid called Dimorphos, a satellite of a 760-meter-diameter asteroid cataloged as Didymos. That DART impact with Dimorphos took place on September 27, 2022 at 0:14 a.m. CET, marking a pivotal moment.

The first thing that was observed is that the dust cloud was released after the DART impact bluer than the asteroid. This indicates that this cloud probably consisted of very fine particles. Then they formed new structures, such as clumps, spirals and a long tail propelled by radiation from the sun.