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National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Hubble Space Telescope captured a series of photos of asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by a 1,200-pound NASA spacecraft called DART on September 26, 2022, according to their statement.

Hubble‘s time-lapse movie of the aftermath of DART’s collision reveals surprising and remarkable, hour-by-hour changes as dust and chunks of debris were flung into space, NASA said in their statement.

Smashing head on into the asteroid at 13,000 miles per hour, the DART impactor blasted over 1,000 tons of dust and rock off of the asteroid.

The Hubble movie offers invaluable new clues into how the debris was dispersed into a complex pattern in the days following the impact, NASA said.

This was over a volume of space much larger than could be recorded by the LICIACube cubesat, which flew past the binary asteroid minutes after DART’s impact, they said.

The primary objective of DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, was to test our ability to alter the asteroid’s trajectory as it orbits its larger companion asteroid, Didymos, the agency said.

Though neither Didymos nor Dimorphos poses any threat to Earth, data from the mission will help inform researchers how to potentially divert an asteroid’s path away from Earth, if ever necessary, the statement said.

The DART experiment also provided fresh insights into planetary collisions that may have been common in the early solar system.

“The DART impact happened in a binary asteroid system. We’ve never witnessed an object collide with an asteroid in a binary asteroid system before in real time, and it’s really surprising.

“I think it’s fantastic. Too much stuff is going on here. It’s going to take some time to figure out,” said Jian-Yang Li of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

The study, led by Li along with 63 other DART team members, was published on March 1 in the journal Nature.

The movie shows three overlapping stages of the impact aftermath: the formation of an ejecta cone, the spiral swirl of debris caught up along the asteroid’s orbit about its companion asteroid, and the tail swept behind the asteroid by the pressure of sunlight, resembling a windsock caught in a breeze, the statement said.

The statement described that the Hubble movie starts at 1.3 hours before impact.

In this view both Didymos and Dimorphos are within the central bright spot; even Hubble can’t resolve the two asteroids separately.

The thin, straight spikes projecting away from the center (and seen in later images) are artifacts of Hubble’s optics.

The first post-impact snapshot is 2 hours after the event.

Debris flies away from the asteroid, moving with a range of speeds faster than four miles per hour, fast enough to escape the asteroid’s gravitational pull, so it does not fall back onto the asteroid, the statement said.

The ejecta forms a largely hollow cone with long, stringy filaments.

At about 17 hours after the impact the debris pattern entered a second stage.

The dynamic interaction within the binary system starts to distort the cone shape of the ejecta pattern, the statement described.

The most prominent structures are rotating, pinwheel-shaped features. The pinwheel is tied to the gravitational pull of the companion asteroid, Didymos.

“This is really unique for this particular incident,” said Li. “When I first saw these images, I couldn’t believe these features. I thought maybe the image was smeared or something.” Hubble next captures the debris being swept back into a comet-like tail by the pressure of sunlight on the tiny dust particles, the statement said.

This stretches out into a debris train where the lightest particles travel the fastest and farthest from the asteroid. The mystery is compounded later when Hubble records the tail splitting in two for a few days, the statement said.

A multitude of other telescopes on Earth and in space, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Lucy spacecraft, also observed the DART impact and its outcomes.

This Hubble movie is part of a suite of new studies published in the journal Nature about the DART mission.


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NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Sends First Space Images Before Full Sky Survey

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NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Sends First Space Images Before Full Sky Survey

NASA’s SPHEREx mission has sent back its first images from space. This marks an important step before it begins the full survey of the sky. The space telescope, which was launched on March 11, 2025, is designed to scan millions of galaxies and collect data in infrared light. On March 27, its detectors captured uncalibrated images that show thousands of light sources, including distant stars and galaxies. The images, processed with added colours for infrared wavelengths, confirm that SPHEREx is operating as expected. Once fully operational, the telescope will take 600 exposures daily and map the entire sky four times during its two-year mission.

Recorded Images Reveals Interesting Details

According to NASA’s SPHEREx mission, the observatory’s six detectors recorded images of the same area of the sky, providing a wide field of view. The top three images represent one portion of the sky, while the bottom three cover the same section. As per the report, the SPHEREx catpured each image with around 100,000 light sources. As per multiple reports, scientists can now learn more about what celestial objects and its distance from Earth with the help of infrared wavelengths. The data from SPHEREx will also help researchers to explore the origins of water in the Milky Way. Moreover, it might also help the scientists to find more clues about the universe’s earliest moments.

Olivier Doré, SPHEREx project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech, told NASA that the telescope is functioning as intended. The infrared light detected by SPHEREx is invisible to human eyes, but colour mapping enables researchers to visualise and analyse it. The observatory’s unique design includes 17 infrared wavelength bands for each detector, creating a total of 102 hues in every six-image capture.

How the Telescope Works

Unlike Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope, which focuses on specific areas of space, SPHEREx is built for large-scale surveys. It uses spectroscopy to break down light and identify chemical compositions and distances of celestial bodies. Light entering the telescope is divided into two paths, each leading to three detectors. Specialised filters process the incoming wavelengths, allowing for detailed observations of millions of cosmic sources.

Beth Fabinsky, deputy project manager at JPL, said in NASA’s official statement that the successful image capture represents a major milestone. The telescope has also reached its target operating temperature of minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit, crucial for detecting faint infrared signals. Since focusing cannot be adjusted after launch, mission engineers verified the accuracy of the telescope’s optics before sending it into space.

Jamie Bock, principal investigator at JPL and Caltech, confirmed in NASA’s report that the telescope is performing as expected. Engineers will continue testing before the observatory begins routine operations in late April.

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Iceland’s Grindavík town evacuated as volcanic fissure erupts with lava!

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Iceland’s Grindavík town evacuated as volcanic fissure erupts with lava!

A volcanic fissure has emerged near Grindavík on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula after a series of strong earthquakes. Lava has breached the town’s defence barriers. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) has warned that the fissure may continue to expand. The eruption began along the Sundhnúkur crater row early in the morning. By 9:45 a.m. local time, a fissure stretching nearly 1,200 metres had opened north of Grindavík. The crack is moving southward. Officials have raised the hazard level to the highest risk category.

Evacuations and Road Closures

According to the IMO, a second fissure has appeared inside Grindavík’s protective barriers. Authorities have evacuated the town along with the Blue Lagoon spa. Roads in and out of the area have been shut. Some residents have refused to leave. Local media outlet Visir has reported that emergency services remain on high alert.

Impact of Volcanic Gas

Weather forecasts indicate that volcanic gas will be carried northeastward towards Reykjavík. The capital is located about 40 kilometres away. The IMO has stated that by tomorrow morning, changing wind patterns may direct the gas southwest and eastward. Residents have been told to remain indoors as much as possible while closely monitoring air quality updates. Reykjanes Peninsula has experienced about 11 eruptions since 2021. Eight have occurred along the Sundhnúkur crater row since last year. Scientists continue to monitor the situation closely. Authorities have urged people to avoid the affected region.

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JWST Captures Unseen Details of Exoplanets in HR 8799 and 51 Eridani Systems

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JWST Captures Unseen Details of Exoplanets in HR 8799 and 51 Eridani Systems

Astronomers have released new images of planets within the HR 8799 and 51 Eridani star systems. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was used in a way that was different from standard procedures to achieve these results. Capturing direct images of exoplanets is challenging due to the brightness of host stars, which often obscures planetary details. To allow more light through, researchers adjusted JWST’s coronagraphs. This helps in enhancing the visibility of these distant worlds. This adjustment provided clearer insights into planetary atmospheres and their compositions.

Unconventional Use of JWST’s Coronagraphs

According to a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, lead author William Balmer, a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University, explained to Space.com that a thinner part of the coronagraph mask was used. This allowed more starlight to diffract, reducing the risk of completely obscuring planets. Coronagraphs typically block starlight to reveal faint celestial bodies, but this modification provided a balance between removing excessive glare and preserving planetary details.

Key Discoveries and Observations

The JWST’s mid-infrared imaging captured HR 8799 at 4.6 microns. It is a wavelength that is mainly blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. Balmer stated that previous ground-based attempts had failed, demonstrating JWST’s stability in detecting exoplanets. Observations at 4.3 microns were also conducted. This revealed the presence of carbon dioxide. It is a very important step in determining the planetary formation processes. The detected carbon dioxide levels suggested that these planets likely formed through core accretion, gathering heavy elements over time.

Future Research and Expanding Studies

There are many research planned to study the four additional planetary systems. Balmer’s team has been allocated more JWST observation time to confirm whether similar gas giants formed through core accretion. This could offer more insights into the stability of planetary systems and potential habitability of smaller, unseen planets.

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