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The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera spacecraft has captured its first close-up view of the Didymos asteroid system, revealing a side of Didymos that NASA's DART spacecraft never saw before its impact with Dimorphos. The image, taken from about 60 kilometers away, shows Didymos with multiple boulders, craters, and patterns of grooves or ridges, which may have been created by debris from the impact. The mission aims to study the aftermath of the DART impact and assess its effectiveness as a planetary defense strategy. More detailed images are expected to be released on November 25.
In September 2022, NASA's DART spacecraft successfully collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, altering its orbit around its larger companion, Didymos. The ESA's Hera mission, launched in October 2024, is now approaching the Didymos system to gather data on the impact's effects. The initial image from Hera shows a different side of Didymos, with features that may have been influenced by the impact, providing valuable insights for future planetary defense efforts.
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