{"id":167038,"date":"2022-10-11T16:57:38","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T02:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=167038"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:58:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T02:58:28","slug":"asteroid-defense-test-success-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/10\/11\/asteroid-defense-test-success-confirmed\/","title":{"rendered":"Asteroid defense test success confirmed by Hawai\u02bbi telescopes"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Satellite image captures a plume coming off of the asteroid following NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s test. (Credit: NASA<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s successful planetary defense test that sent the 1,260-pound DART<\/abbr> spacecraft colliding into an asteroid on September 26 demonstrated the significant role Hawai\u02bbi astronomers and telescopes have in protecting Earth from a potential catastrophic asteroid impact.<\/p>\n

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NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope shows debris blasted from the surface of the asteroid. (Credit: NASA<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The space agency\u2019s historic mission centered on navigating a spacecraft into the small “moonlet” of asteroid Didymos, called Dimorphos, to alter the moonlet’s orbit around its parent asteroid\u2014a strategy that could be used to change the path of a possibly much larger asteroid on a collision course with Earth in the future. According to NASA<\/abbr>, the test was a success, shortening the moonlet’s 12-hour orbit around Didymos by about 32 minutes, a change much larger than scientists projected.<\/p>\n

The same telescopes and astronomers that are part of the planetary defense system that detect Near-Earth Objects (NEO<\/abbr>s) and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA<\/abbr>s) were able to help confirm the success of the NASA<\/abbr> test.<\/p>\n

Related: 东精影业<\/abbr> astronomers capture historic NASA<\/abbr> spacecraft, asteroid collision<\/a>, September 27, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

“Our programs to search the skies constantly for hazard asteroids left ATLAS well-positioned to monitor the DART<\/abbr> impact from the ground as it happened. Our telescope that we just installed in South Africa performed flawlessly, and the visuals of the dust plume right after the impact were spectacular and beyond expectations,” said University of Hawai\u2019i Astronomer Larry Denneau<\/strong>, a co-principal investigator at the 东精影业<\/abbr>-operated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System<\/a> or ATLAS.<\/p>\n

The 东精影业<\/abbr> Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>s) operates the NASA<\/abbr>-funded ATLAS, and Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System<\/a> (Pan-STARRS) which are at the forefront of the world’s efforts to discover NEO<\/abbr>s and PHA<\/abbr>s. IfA<\/abbr>s astronomers have been instrumental in tracking down the most dangerous NEO<\/abbr>s, defined by NASA<\/abbr> as those with diameters greater than 140 meters across (459 feet). While searching for these large, dangerous asteroids, IfA<\/abbr>s researchers are also working to locate asteroids smaller in size that could pose a major threat to Earth.<\/p>\n

“Of the dangerous 140-meter asteroids, there are tens of thousands that we haven\u2019t found yet. But we are monitoring the skies every night so that we can build up the catalog and keep track of them in the future,” said Denneau.<\/p>\n

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Pan-STARRS1 and Pan-STARRS2 telescopes on Haleakal\u0101. (Credit: Jason Chu)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n
\"atlas
Telescope unit on Haleakal\u0101, Maui. (Photo credit: Henry Weiland)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

ATLAS\u2019 state-of-the-art asteroid alert system is a four-telescope system located in the northern hemisphere atop Haleakal\u0101 and Maunaloa and in the southern hemisphere at Sutherland Observing Station in South Africa and El Sauce Observatory in Chile. Pan-STARRS atop Haleakal\u0101 currently finds nearly as many NEO<\/abbr>s and PHA<\/abbr>s as the rest of the world\u2019s observatories combined. ATLAS and Pan-STARRS complement each other in capability\u2014ATLAS specializes in finding asteroids on very close approaches to the Earth, while Pan-STARRS can find dangerous asteroids when they are farther away, possibly years before they approach the Earth.<\/p>\n

On Maunakea, the Canada-France-Hawaiʻi<\/span> Telescope<\/a> (CFHT<\/abbr>s) also plays a critical role by regularly conducting follow-up observations of potential asteroid candidates discovered by Pan-STARRS. Using CFHT<\/abbr>s\u2019s MegaCam, observations help to determine the object\u2019s orbit, critical to determining if the object poses a threat to Earth.<\/p>\n

Denneau added how the experiment further demonstrates how essential it is for astronomers to continue to track objects that can potentially threaten our planet. “The earlier you can know that an asteroid will collide with the Earth, the more options you have, and the less you have to deflect it.”<\/p>\n

Future<\/h2>\n

Throughout the next couple of months, IfA<\/abbr>s astronomers will work with students to study the moonlet Dimorphos\u2019 orbit around Didymos using the 东精影业<\/abbr>88 telescope on Maunakea and Faulkes North telescope on Haleakal\u0101, which is one of a number of observatories part of the Las Cumbres telescope network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

东精影业<\/abbr>-operated telescopes are at the forefront of the world’s efforts to discover Near-Earth objects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[34,656,35,1467,659,1421,1164,9],"class_list":["post-167038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-astronomy","tag-haleakala","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-maunakea","tag-maunakea-observatories","tag-telescope","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167038"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167041,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167038\/revisions\/167041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}