The Planetary Science Journal (Jan 2023)
Characterization of the Ejecta from the NASA/DART Impact on Dimorphos: Observations and Monte Carlo Models
- Fernando Moreno,
- Adriano Campo Bagatin,
- Gonzalo Tancredi,
- Jian-Yang Li,
- Alessandro Rossi,
- Fabio Ferrari,
- Masatoshi Hirabayashi,
- Eugene Fahnestock,
- Alain Maury,
- Robert Sandness,
- Andrew S. Rivkin,
- Andy Cheng,
- Tony L. Farnham,
- Stefania Soldini,
- Carmine Giordano,
- Gianmario Merisio,
- Paolo Panicucci,
- Mattia Pugliatti,
- Alberto J. Castro-Tirado,
- Emilio Fernández-García,
- ignacio Pérez-García,
- Stavro Ivanovski,
- Antti Penttila,
- Ludmilla Kolokolova,
- Javier Licandro,
- Olga Muñoz,
- Zuri Gray,
- Jose L. Ortiz,
- Zhong-Yi Lin
Affiliations
- Fernando Moreno
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- Adriano Campo Bagatin
- Instituto de Fìsica Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías (IUFACyT), Universidad de Alicante , San Vicent del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, Spain; Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal Universidad de Alicante , San Vicent del Raspeig, E-03690 Alicante, Spain
- Gonzalo Tancredi
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias , Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay
- Jian-Yang Li
- Planetary Science Institute , Tucson, AZ, USA
- Alessandro Rossi
- ORCiD
- FAC-CNR , Via Madonna del Piano 10, I-50142, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
- Fabio Ferrari
- ORCiD
- Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, Italy
- Masatoshi Hirabayashi
- ORCiD
- Auburn University , Auburn, AL, USA
- Eugene Fahnestock
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA, USA
- Alain Maury
- SPACEOBS , San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
- Robert Sandness
- SPACEOBS , San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
- Andrew S. Rivkin
- ORCiD
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
- Andy Cheng
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
- Tony L. Farnham
- ORCiD
- University of Maryland , Department of Astronomy, College Park, MD, USA
- Stefania Soldini
- Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, University of Liverpool , Liverpool, UK
- Carmine Giordano
- Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, Italy
- Gianmario Merisio
- Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, Italy
- Paolo Panicucci
- Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, Italy
- Mattia Pugliatti
- Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano , Milano, Italy
- Alberto J. Castro-Tirado
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain; Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Escuela de Ingenierías, Universidad de Málaga , Málaga, Spain
- Emilio Fernández-García
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- ignacio Pérez-García
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- Stavro Ivanovski
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Via G.B. Tiepolo, 11, Trieste, Italy
- Antti Penttila
- Department of Physics, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, University of Helsinki , Finland
- Ludmilla Kolokolova
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD, USA
- Javier Licandro
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias C/Vía Láctea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna, Spain; Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna , E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Olga Muñoz
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- Zuri Gray
- Armagh Observatory & Planetarium , College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG, UK; Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London , Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
- Jose L. Ortiz
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía , CSIC Glorieta de la Astronomía, s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
- Zhong-Yi Lin
- Institute of Astronomy, National Central University , No. 300, Zhongda Road, Zhongli Dist., Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ace827
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 4,
no. 8
p. 138
Abstract
The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully crashed on Dimorphos, the secondary component of the binary (65803) Didymos system. Following the impact, a large dust cloud was released, and a long-lasting dust tail developed. We have extensively monitored the dust tail from the ground and the Hubble Space Telescope. We provide a characterization of the ejecta dust properties, i.e., particle size distribution and ejection speeds, ejection geometric parameters, and mass, by combining both observational data sets and using Monte Carlo models of the observed dust tail. The size distribution function that best fits the imaging data is a broken power law having a power index of –2.5 for particles of r ≤ 3 mm and –3.7 for larger particles. The particles range in size from 1 μ m up to 5 cm. The ejecta is characterized by two components, depending on velocity and ejection direction. The northern component of the double tail, observed since 2022 October 8, might be associated with a secondary ejection event from impacting debris on Didymos, although is also possible that this feature results from the binary system dynamics alone. The lower limit to the total dust mass ejected is estimated at ∼6 × 10 ^6 kg, half of this mass being ejected to interplanetary space.
Keywords
