This is for the dinosaurs 🦖⁣ ⁣ Scientists have confirmed that the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully impacted the orbit of its target asteroid, Dimorphos. Marking the first time humanity has purposively altered the motion of a celestial object.⁣ ⁣ Before impact, Dimorphos orbited its larger companion asteroid, Didymos, at a rate of 11 hours and 55 minutes. Since impact, astronomers using ground-based telescopes on Earth have confirmed that the spacecraft altered the asteroid's orbit by 32 minutes for a new time of 11 hours and 23 minutes.⁣ ⁣ Image descriptions:⁣ ⁣ 1. The asteroid Didymos appears in the blackness of space at the center of the image as a grey multifaced rock. Lower and to the right, a small grey rock, Dimorphos, is visible with light wisps of grey on one side. Credit: ASI/NASA⁣ ⁣ 2. A whitish-blue streak from the upper right coalesces into a bright dot near the center of the screen, with black space on all sides. Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/SOAR/NSF/AURA/T. Kareta (Lowell Observatory), M. Knight (US Naval Academy)⁣ ⁣ 3. A blue tail of the asteroid to the left of the center of this photo surrounded by black space. Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/Hubble⁣ ⁣ 4. A black-and-white image shows a bright object in the upper center of the graphic. Rectangles appear to zoom in on the asteroid and represent different levels of contrast. Credit: ASI/NASA/APL⁣ ⁣ #NASA #DARTMission #Space #PlanetaryDefender #Spacecraft #Asteroid