{"id":2245055,"date":"2026-11-06T20:45:46","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T17:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2245055"},"modified":"2026-11-06T20:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T17:45:46","slug":"europes-hera-probe-sends-back-its-closest-view-yet-of-nasas-dart-crash-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2245055","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s Hera Probe Sends Back Its Closest View Yet of NASA\u2019s DART Crash Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/11\/hera-asteroid-target-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Two years ago, Europe sent a spacecraft on a mission to investigate the aftermath of a human-instigated cosmic collision. Now, Hera is closing in on its destination, and it just sent back the first close-up view of its target.<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) Hera mission snapped an image of the Didymos asteroid system from about 37 miles (60 kilometers) away. The black-and-white photo shows the side of Didymos that NASA\u2019s DART spacecraft never got to see before it crashed into its smaller companion, Dimorphos. And, according to the team behind the mission, the asteroid looks very different from this side, with some features that may have been created in the aftermath of the impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing we said was wow!\u201d Patrick Michel, Hera principal investigator, said in a statement. \u201cThis feels like looking at a whole new world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crash site<\/h2>\n

In September 2022, NASA crashed a 1,260-pound (570 kilogram) spacecraft into Dimorphos, a 558-foot-wide (170-meter) space rock that orbits its larger 2,625-foot-wide (800-meter) companion, Didymos.<\/p>\n

Following the collision, ground-based observations revealed that Dimorphos\u2019s orbital period around Didymos shortened from 11 hours and 55 minutes to 11 hours and 23 minutes. The mission was deemed a success, but scientists needed a closer look to examine the full consequences of the impact.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Hera comes in. The spacecraft launched on October 7, 2024, as a crucial follow-up to NASA\u2019s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). Following a two-year journey through space, Hera is nearly ready to get to work, gathering data to help scientists better determine if DART\u2019s success can be turned into a dependable strategy for protecting Earth.<\/p>\n

A closer look<\/h2>\n

The recently released image captures Didymos like we\u2019ve never seen it before, revealing the asteroid\u2019s previously hidden backside. \u201cThis side of Didymos has the same central ridge along its equator that we saw before, but otherwise appears very different, with multiple boulders and craters and what look like patterns of grooves or ridges,\u201d Michel said.<\/p>\n

The team of scientists behind the mission believes some of the features on Didymos may have been created in the aftermath of the impact, whereby debris was thrown across the 0.6-mile (1 kilometer) gap between the two space rocks.<\/p>\n

Didymos\u2019s smaller companion, the moonlet Dimorphos, does appear in the photo, but only a tiny sliver of it can be seen below its parent asteroid. As Hera gets closer, the spacecraft will have a chance to study both bodies, offering a much more detailed look at the asteroid pair and the aftermath of NASA\u2019s DART impact.<\/p>\n

Hera is expected to spend at least six months surveying the Didymos asteroid system. \u201cWe have exciting work ahead of us to sort it out,\u201d Michael Kueppers, ESA\u2019s Hera mission scientist, said in the statement.\u00a0\u201cWe look forward to seeing much more of both bodies and [systematically] mapping all the changes we identify.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Two years ago, Europe sent a spacecraft on a mission to investigate the aftermath of a human-instigated cosmic collision. Now, Hera is closing in on its destination, and it just sent back the first close-up view of its target.<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) Hera mission snapped an image of the Didymos asteroid system from about 37 miles (60 kilometers) away. The black-and-white photo shows the side of Didymos that NASA\u2019s DART spacecraft never got to see before it crashed into its smaller companion, Dimorphos. And, according to the team behind the mission, the asteroid looks very different from this side, with some features that may have been created in the aftermath of the impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing we said was wow!\u201d Patrick Michel, Hera principal investigator, said in a statement. \u201cThis feels like looking at a whole new world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crash site<\/h2>\n

In September 2022, NASA crashed a 1,260-pound (570 kilogram) spacecraft into Dimorphos, a 558-foot-wide (170-meter) space rock that orbits its larger 2,625-foot-wide (800-meter) companion, Didymos.<\/p>\n

Following the collision, ground-based observations revealed that Dimorphos\u2019s orbital period around Didymos shortened from 11 hours and 55 minutes to 11 hours and 23 minutes. The mission was deemed a success, but scientists needed a closer look to examine the full consequences of the impact.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Hera comes in. The spacecraft launched on October 7, 2024, as a crucial follow-up to NASA\u2019s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). Following a two-year journey through space, Hera is nearly ready to get to work, gathering data to help scientists better determine if DART\u2019s success can be turned into a dependable strategy for protecting Earth.<\/p>\n

A closer look<\/h2>\n

The recently released image captures Didymos like we\u2019ve never seen it before, revealing the asteroid\u2019s previously hidden backside. \u201cThis side of Didymos has the same central ridge along its equator that we saw before, but otherwise appears very different, with multiple boulders and craters and what look like patterns of grooves or ridges,\u201d Michel said.<\/p>\n

The team of scientists behind the mission believes some of the features on Didymos may have been created in the aftermath of the impact, whereby debris was thrown across the 0.6-mile (1 kilometer) gap between the two space rocks.<\/p>\n

Didymos\u2019s smaller companion, the moonlet Dimorphos, does appear in the photo, but only a tiny sliver of it can be seen below its parent asteroid. As Hera gets closer, the spacecraft will have a chance to study both bodies, offering a much more detailed look at the asteroid pair and the aftermath of NASA\u2019s DART impact.<\/p>\n

Hera is expected to spend at least six months surveying the Didymos asteroid system. \u201cWe have exciting work ahead of us to sort it out,\u201d Michael Kueppers, ESA\u2019s Hera mission scientist, said in the statement.\u00a0\u201cWe look forward to seeing much more of both bodies and [systematically] mapping all the changes we identify.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/11\/hera-asteroid-target-1200×675.jpg”] Two years ago, Europe sent a spacecraft on a mission to investigate the aftermath of a human-instigated cosmic collision. Now, Hera is closing in on its destination, and it just sent back the first close-up view of its target. The European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) Hera mission snapped an image of the Didymos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-2245055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2245055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2245055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2245055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2245055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}