CEFNS Astronomy and Planetary Science
Virtual Visit Request info Apply
MENUMENU
  • About us
    • People
    • News
      • Accomplishments
      • Newspaper & magazine articles
      • Scrapbook
    • Events & colloquia
    • Faculty & staff directory
  • Degrees
    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • PhD Astronomy & Planetary Science
  • Research
    • Faculty Research
    • NAU/NASA Space Grant
    • National Undergraduate Research Observatory
    • Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Astronomy (REU)
    • CCC2NAU Internship Program
  • Resources
    • Forms & Policies
      • Forms Index
      • Policies Index
    • Professional development
      • Research & employment opportunities
    • Tuition & aid
      • Tuition information
      • Financial Aid
      • Scholarships
    • Academics & support
      • Advising
      • Commencement
      • Course Syllabi
      • Handy links for homework/research
      • Purchase lab manuals
      • Tutoring
  • Give now
  • NAU
  • CEFNS
  • Astronomy and Planetary Science
  • NASA’s Crash Into an Asteroid May Have Altered Its Shape

DART

NASA’s Crash Into an Asteroid May Have Altered Its Shape

Posted by Ed on February 26, 2024

https://vp.nyt.com/video/2024/02/26/115937_1_26sci-asteroid-vid1_wg_1080p.mp4

A computer model simulated the DART spacecraft colliding with the asteroid Dimorphos.CreditCredit…Raducan et al., Nature

Dimorphos’s response is “completely outside of the realm of physics as we understand it” in our day-to-day lives, said Cristina Thomas, the lead of the mission’s observations working group at Northern Arizona University who was not involved with the study. And “this has overarching implications for planetary defense.”

DART showed that a tiny spacecraft can deflect an asteroid. But the… Read more

Filed Under: Astronomy and Planetary Science

New data from DART mission show a 33-minute change in asteroid orbit after impact

Posted by Author on Source on March 1, 2023


A new study released today found that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) knocked the asteroid Dimorphos off its orbit, changing it by 33 minutes.

This announcement, along with three others based on research from the groundbreaking Sept. 26 mission, is published in Nature. Cristina Thomas, an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University and lead of the DART Observations Working Group, is the study’s lead author.

Read the full… Read more

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

Cristina Thomas broke the speed limit with JWST.

Posted by Ed on February 8, 2023

From the James Webb Space Telescope Blog: Breaking the Tracking Speed Limit With Webb

Filed Under: Astronomy and Planetary Science

Cristina Thomas’ interview about the DART mission with NPR’s “Short Wave” podcast.

Posted by Author on Source on December 9, 2022

DART: The Impacts Of Slamming A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid

“The DART mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is essentially our first test of a kinetic impact for planetary defense.” says Cristina Thomas, assistant professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University.

Filed Under: Astronomy and Planetary Science

Cristina Thomas and NASA’s DART mission

Posted by Author on Source on September 28, 2022

On Monday [Sept. 26]at 4:13 p.m. (Arizona time), more than 7 million miles away, NASA’s DART mission, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, successfully slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos, making history as the first step toward a possible future planetary defense strategy (NAU Review, Sept. 28).

*****

For asteroid scientists, their work is just beginning.

By design, the crash occurred when the asteroids were fairly close to Earth.

That allowed telescopes on Earth to get a good look. About 40 of them were pointed at… Read more

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

Mission control watch party of DART marking impact

Posted by Ed on

On Monday, [Sept. 26], at 4:13 p.m. (Arizona time), more than 7 million miles away, NASA’s DART mission, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, successfully slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos, making history as the first step toward a possible future planetary defense strategy.

Cristina Thomas, assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science and team lead on the DART mission, along with Jason Wilder, vice president for research, were at Mission control in Laurel, Maryland to witness… Read more

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

Posts navigation

1 2 Next

Categories

Tags

Anna Baker Anna Engle Asteroids Astrobiology Astroinformatics astronomy Brain Food Christopher Edwards Cristina Thomas DART David Koerner David Trilling Deimos Ed Anderson EMIRS EMM Flagstaff Festival of Science Gavin Moriarty Hope Ian Marrs James Webb Space Telescope JWST KNAU Local News Lucas McClure LUCY Mars Mars Moon Exploration Mary Lara Nadine Barlow NAU Near-Earth Asteroids OSIRIS-REx PhD Defense Phobos planetary defense Pluto Ryder Strauss Sam Hemmelgarn Science and Technology Shae Raposa Trojan Asteroids via bookmarklet Wildfire XPRIZE

Archives

Astronomy and Planetary Science
Location
Room 209 Building 19
Physical Sciences
527 S. Beaver St.
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6010
Mailing Address
NAU Box 6010
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6010
Email
astro@nau.edu
Phone
928-523-2661
Social Media
Facebook