Watch NASA smash into an asteroid

 Sixty-five million years ago, an asteroid struck Earth. Today, NASA strikes back. At 7:14 pm EDT, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft will intentionally collide with asteroid Dimorphos to find out if human tech can change an asteroid's trajectory. The technique could be used in the future to divert dangerous space rocks. An Italian spacecraft will film the collision from a safe distance. Live coverage begins at 5:30 pm EDT on NASA TV.

Live Streaming on NASA TV
Starts at 5:30 p.m. EDT (21:30 UTC)

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH JUPITER: Today, Jupiter is having its closest encounter with Earth since 1963--only 591 million kilometers away. That's closer than it sounds:

Marek Nikodem took the picture this morning near Szubin, Poland. "I went with my girl friend outside the city to observe Jupiter's excellent close encounter," he says. "What a wonderful sight, Jupiter shone in the sky like a lantern in the dark."

At this nearby point in its orbit, Jupiter (mag. -2.9) outshines every star in the night sky. It is more than 4 times brighter than Sirius. The giant planet's disk is nearly an arcminute wide, making it an easy target for backyard telescopes.

Over the weekend, Michael Karrer recorded this movie using a 14-inch Celestron:

"That's Europa throwing its shadow on Jupiter," says Karrer. "Together with the Great Red Spot, it was an exciting scene."

Got a telescope? Tonight is a great night to use it. Look for Jupiter rising in the east at sunset and soaring overhead at midnight. Enjoy the show!

REGISTER NOW

(Source: spaceweather.com; September 26, 2022; https://tinyurl.com/yb94yf8g)
Back to INF

Loading please wait...