The debris created during the DART mission, which tested humanity’s ability to deflect dangerous asteroids, may unexpectedly create the first-ever artificial meteor shower.
On 26 September 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) collided with the 160-metre-wide (525ft) asteroid Dimorphos.
The impact changed the asteroid’s orbit around its larger companion, Didymos, by over 30 minutes, proving humanity had the ability to deflect an asteroid if it was found to be on a collision course with Earth.
DART asteroid debris will hit Earth
Meteor showers are naturally caused when Earth passes through a stream of debris left behind by a comet or, sometimes, an asteroid.
The fact that this debris comes from the DART mission impact makes this the first artificial, or human-made, meteor shower.
As astronomers know the precise time and location of the impact, this offered a rare opportunity to study how the large volume of debris it created spreads through the Solar System.
By simulating over three million particles of different sizes and speeds, a team of researchers have predicted how they think the debris cloud will behave.
“We identified ejecta orbits compatible with the delivery of meteor-producing particles to both Mars and Earth,” says Eloy Peña-Asensio from the Politecnico di Milano, who led the study.
The simulations reveal the smallest, fastest particles could reach Earth within seven years.
They pose no threat, but could create a meteor shower, though it’s uncertain how visible this would be.
Smaller particles are more likely to be moving fast enough to reach Earth, while larger particles have a higher probability of reaching Mars.
“We were amazed to discover that it is possible for some centimetre-sized particles to reach the Earth–Moon system and produce a new meteor shower,” says Josep M Trigo-Rodríguez from the Spanish Institute of Space Sciences.
The team will now monitor for signs of the meteor shower, which is expected to be slow-moving and most visible in the Southern Hemisphere during May.
