Webb Captures DART Impact

This animation features a timelapse of images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope showing the aftermath of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally slamming into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos. This animation covers the time spanning just before impact at 13:14 pm CEST through 5 hours post-impact. Plumes of material from a compact core appear as wisps streaming away from where the impact took place. An area of rapid, extreme brightening is also visible in the animation.

In the coming months, scientists will use Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to observe Dimorphos further. Spectroscopic data will also provide researchers with insight into the asteroid’s composition.

Webb’s observations were conducted in the filter F070W (0.7 microns, assigned the colour red).