Simulation of DART's impact on Dimorphos

Movie derived from Bern SPH simulations showcasing the aftermath of the DART impact, spanning the initial 30 minutes post-collision. On 26 September 2022 NASA’s approximately half-tonne DART spacecraft impacted the boulder covered Dimorphos asteroid at a speed of 6.1 km/s. This first experiment in the kinetic impact method of asteroid deflection was successful: observations from Earth show the 11 hour 55 minute orbit of Dimorphos around its parent asteroid Didymos was shortened by around 33 minutes (measured to an uncertainty level of plus or minus a minute). Researchers used the Bern Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) impact code. This software system, developed at the University of Bern over two decades, is designed to replicate the collisional breakup of rocky bodies. The simulations suggest that Dimorphos has had its initial flying saucer shape blunted on its impact side, as if a bite has been taken out of it.