In Chile, the SOAR telescope, operated by the American NOIRLab, captured a long plume of fragments and dust from the NASA DART asteroid in the latter ' s orbital reorbit experiment.
Two days after the DART strike, American astronomers used the 4.1-metre Southern Astrophic Research Telescope telescope to film a large dust plume and fragments that left the asteroid after the impact.
The next phase of the DART team is related to data analysis and further observations by researchers from around the world, and SOAR telescopes are planned to be used to monitor emissions in the coming weeks and months, while the SOAR combination and the observation network capacity of the Astronomy Event Observer Network allow for effective monitoring of dynamic events like this.
Observations will allow scientists to learn about the nature of the surface of Dimorph, how much matter was released as a result of the impact, how quickly the release occurred, and how much of it was produced, for example, whether the impact caused the release of predominantly large fragments or mainly dust. Analysis of information could potentially help scientists to protect the Earth and its inhabitants through better understanding of the processes.
SOAR observations demonstrate the capacity of the Association of Universitys for Research in Astronomy to plan planetary defence, while the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is being built in Chile, will allow the solar system to be inspected to detect potential hazards.