A new Hubble image of Dimorphos has revealed a forked tail that makes the asteroid look more like a comet following NASA's DART test.
. But, that isn’t the only thing that changed, as a new Hubble image of Dimorphos has confirmed a twin tail of debris is now chasing the asteroid.
The tail, which was captured in an image of Dimorphos that Hubble snapped earlier this month, shows the asteroid in the distance, as two twin tails trail after it. The tails are made up of the debris from the impact of the DART test that NASA ran in late September.that repeated observations of the asteroid over the past several weeks have allowed for a more complete picture of the aftermath.
Not only was DART’s impact with Dimorphos able to successfully shorten the asteroid’s orbit, but it also gave us some insight into how the asteroid has looked since the impact. And, as NASA points out in an announcement about the new Hubble image of Dimorphos, scientists aren’t quite sure what the tails indicate, or what the relationship between any ejected debris and the tails might be.