Overview
- Published in Science Advances on March 6, the study finds the Didymos–Dimorphos system’s heliocentric motion slowed by about 11.7 micrometres per second, corresponding to a roughly 0.15‑second change in its 770‑day solar orbit.
- Researchers attribute the measurable deflection to the 2022 kinetic impact plus momentum carried away by escaping ejecta, yielding a momentum‑enhancement factor near two.
- The result synthesizes 22 stellar occultations, nearly 6,000 ground‑based astrometric observations, radar data, and DART navigation measurements, with crucial contributions from volunteer observers worldwide.
- NASA and the study team emphasize the system poses no threat to Earth, noting the minimum approach distance remains essentially unchanged despite the tiny but detectable slowdown.
- ESA’s Hera spacecraft is en route to the binary and is expected to arrive later in 2026 to provide in‑situ measurements that will independently verify and refine these findings.