DART had on board a camera and a navigation system with which it could adjust its course. Only the moment of impact itself could not be captured by the camera. Before that, a small satellite, LICIACube, of the Italian space agency flew with it. Three minutes after the impact, it flew over the asteroid to capture the cloud of smoke and possible crater created by DART. The researchers expected tons of material to be thrown into space.
Telescopes on Earth also closely monitored the asteroid before, during and after the crash. The famous space telescopes Hubble and James Webb also observed. It will likely be days or even weeks before NASA can confirm whether the impact had enough impact to change Dimorphos’s course.
–
