James Webb and Hubble Space telescopes teamed up for the first time to observe the same thing

James Webb and Hubble Space telescopes teamed up for the first time to observe the same thing The DART spacecraft collision with the Dimorphous on September 27, 2022. It zipped through the space at a speed of 14,000 mph (22,500 km/h).

The collision led to the ejection of large plumes of material, which caused the double-asteroid system to increase in brightness to about threefold.

Before the collision happened or during or after the impact, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope were busy observing the DART’s target, the Dimorphous.

The images captured through the DART mission mark the first time in history when the two telescopes have teamed up to capture simultaneous observations of the same object.

These observations from the space by DART’s impact and the resulting debris cloud that was formed will turn out to be data that they need to understand the nature of Dimorphous’ surface.

The complementary coverage by Webb and Hubble will facilitate the learning about whether the collision threw off large chunks of rock and debris or just primarily fine dust.

This information is valuable for understanding the nature of asteroids. Along with it, it is a piece of vital information about how large and tightly bound the agglomerated material within asteroids is. This will further facilitate the odds of success in avoiding an asteroid that is about to hit the earth’s surface.