NASA’s DART spacecraft will test the asteroid Dimorphos in 2022. This was done as a historic act. It also took high-resolution images of Dimorphos and its larger companion, Didymos.
These images help scientists to code the complex history of these near-Earth asteroids and understand the formation of binary asteroid systems. It now orbits a primary asteroid with a smaller planet.
Analysis of the craters of Didymos and its surface puts it at about 12.5 million
It claims to have evolved years ago, while Dimorphos is estimated to have evolved around 300,000 years ago.
Didymos is said to have originated in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before being pushed into the inner Solar System.
Examination of the large boulders on Didymos and Dimorphos revealed that these asteroids formed from the destruction of its parent asteroid.
The surfaces of both asteroids are much weaker than loose sand, noted Olivier Barnouin of Johns Hopkins University.
On September 26, 2022, the DART spacecraft hit Dimorphos at 14,000 miles per hour and was deflected. Although Didymos and Demorphos did not pose an immediate threat to Earth, they successfully demonstrated the ability of an asteroid to alter its trajectory.
