The DART space probe saw an asteroid it will collide with in three weeks

Comic probe Double Asteroid Redirection Test, aka DART, sent to Earth the first image of the asteroid Didymos and Dimorphos.

Here's What We Know

DART is a planetary defense comic probe. With its help NASA will work out a technique to change the trajectory of asteroids that could be dangerous to Earth. Didym-Dimorph is a double asteroid that poses no threat to our planet.

On September 27 at 20:14 (EDT) or 17:14 (PDT), DART will crash into the asteroid Dimorph. The impact should change its trajectory by a fraction of a percent. This is expected to be enough for the space agency's telescopes to record the deviation from its orbit.

DART transmitted an image obtained from 243 separate images to Earth. The photos were taken on July 27, 2022 with the optical navigation camera DRACO. At the time of filming the space probe was at a distance of more than 30 million kilometers from the double asteroid.

The camera will be used to allow the apparatus to reach the collision site. But now NASA specialists are in charge of the maneuvers. They receive images every five hours in order to adjust the trajectory of the probe.

Source: space