Photometry of the Didymos System across the DART Impact Apparition

Moskovitz N. Thomas C. Pravec P. Lister T. Polakis T. Osip D. Kareta T. Rożek A. Chesley S.R. Naidu S.P. Scheirich P. Ryan W. Ryan E. Skiff B. Snodgrass C. Knight M.M. Rivkin A.S. Chabot N.L. Ayvazian V. Belskaya I. Benkhaldoun Z. Berteşteanu D.N. Bonavita M. Bressi T.H. Brucker M.J. Burgdorf M.J. Burkhonov O. Burt B. Contreras C. Chatelain J. Choi Y.-J. Daily M. León J.D. Ergashev K. Farnham T. Fatka P. Ferrais M. Geier S. Gomez E. Greenstreet S. Gröller H. Hergenrother C. Holt C. Hornoch K. Husárik M. Inasaridze R. Jehin E. Khalouei E. Eluo J.-B.K. Kim M.-J. Krugly Y. Kučáková H. Kušnirák P. Larsen J.A. Lee H.-J. Lejoly C. Licandro J. Longa-Peña P. Mastaler R.A. McCully C. Moon H.-K. Morrell N. Nath A. Oszkiewicz D. Parrott D. Phillips L. Popescu M.M. Pray D. Prodan G.P. Rabus M. Read M.T. Reva I. Roark V. Santana-Ros T. Scotti J.V. Tatara T. Thirouin A. Tholen D. Troianskyi V. Tubbiolo A.F. Villa K.
1 February 2024 Institute of Physics

Planetary Science Journal
2024 #5 Issue 2

On 2022 September 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the satellite of binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos. This demonstrated the efficacy of a kinetic impactor for planetary defense by changing the orbital period of Dimorphos by 33 minutes. Measuring the period change relied heavily on a coordinated campaign of lightcurve photometry designed to detect mutual events (occultations and eclipses) as a direct probe of the satellite’s orbital period. A total of 28 telescopes contributed 224 individual lightcurves during the impact apparition from 2022 July to 2023 February. We focus here on decomposable lightcurves, i.e., those from which mutual events could be extracted. We describe our process of lightcurve decomposition and use that to release the full data set for future analysis. We leverage these data to place constraints on the postimpact evolution of ejecta. The measured depths of mutual events relative to models showed that the ejecta became optically thin within the first ∼1 day after impact and then faded with a decay time of about 25 days. The bulk magnitude of the system showed that ejecta no longer contributed measurable brightness enhancement after about 20 days postimpact. This bulk photometric behavior was not well represented by an HG photometric model. An HG₁G₂ model did fit the data well across a wide range of phase angles. Lastly, we note the presence of an ejecta tail through at least 2023 March. Its persistence implied ongoing escape of ejecta from the system many months after DART impact.

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, 86004, AZ, United States
Northern Arizona University, United States
Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ondrějov, Fričova 298, CZ-25165, Czech Republic
Las Cumbres Observatory, Goleta, CA, United States
Las Campanas Observatory, Chile
Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, United Kingdom
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Magdalena Ridge Observatory, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, 87801, NM, United States
Physics Department, United States Naval Academy, 572C Holloway Road, Annapolis, 21402, MD, United States
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, United States
E. Kharadze Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory, Abastumani, GA, United States
LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Sorbonne Université, Meudon, France
Institute of Astronomy, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Oukaïmeden Observatory, High Energy Physics and Astrophysics Laboratory, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, BP 2390, Morocco
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, Romania
LPL, UA, United States
Universität Hamburg, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences, Department of Earth Sciences, Meteorological Institute, Bundesstraße 55, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany
Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776, Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34055, South Korea
University of Science and Technology, 217, Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, South Korea
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain
University of Maryland, United States
Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida, 12354 Research Parkway, Orlando, 32826, FL, United States
Gran Telescopio Canarias (GRANTECAN), Cuesta de San José s/n, La Palma, Breña Baja, E-38712, Spain
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Vía Láctea s/n, La Laguna, Tenerife, E-38200, Spain
School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, United Kingdom
DiRAC Institute, the Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, United States
Ascending Node Technologies, LLC, Tucson, AZ, United States
Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Tatranská Lomnica, 059 60, Slovakia
Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, Akhaltsikhe, GA, United States
Space sciences, Technologies & Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, University of Liège, Belgium
Astronomy Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, South Korea
Vatican Observatory, Vatican, V-00120, Italy
Astronomical Observatory Institute, Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Słoneczna 36, Poznań, 60-286, Poland
USNA, United States
Centro de Astronomía, Universidad de Antofagasta, Av. Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile
MonitorMyPlanet, Toronto, Canada
Tycho Tracker, United States
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, 5 Cuţitul de Argint, Bucharest, 040557, Romania
Sugarloaf Mountain Observatory, South Deerfield, MA, United States
Departamento de Matemática y Física Aplicadas, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Alonso de Rivera, Concepción, 2850, Chile
Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, Almaty, Kazakhstan
University of Hawaii, United States
Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal, Universidad de Alicante, Carr. de San Vicente del Raspeig, s/n, Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, E-03690, Spain
Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Carrer de Martí i Franquès, 1, Barcelona, E-08028, Spain
Department of Physics and Astronomy FMPIT of Odesa I.I. Mechnykov National University, Pastera Street 42, Odesa, 65082, Ukraine
Department of Physics and Methods of Teaching, Faculty of Physics and Technology, Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Shevchenko Street 57, Ivano-Frankivsk, 76000, Ukraine

Lowell Observatory
Northern Arizona University
Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Las Cumbres Observatory
Las Campanas Observatory
Institute for Astronomy
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Physics Department
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
E. Kharadze Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory
LESIA
Institute of Astronomy
Oukaïmeden Observatory
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy
LPL
Universität Hamburg
Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of Maryland
Florida Space Institute
Gran Telescopio Canarias (GRANTECAN)
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
School of Physics and Astronomy
DiRAC Institute
Ascending Node Technologies
Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
Samtskhe-Javakheti State University
Space sciences
Astronomy Research Center
Vatican Observatory
Astronomical Observatory Institute
USNA
Centro de Astronomía
MonitorMyPlanet
Tycho Tracker
Department of Physics
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy
Sugarloaf Mountain Observatory
Departamento de Matemática y Física Aplicadas
Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute
University of Hawaii
Departamento de Física
Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB)
Department of Physics and Astronomy FMPIT of Odesa I.I. Mechnykov National University
Department of Physics and Methods of Teaching

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026