NASA DART Spacecraft Asteroid Collision: Light Polarization Changes | ESO

NASA DART Spacecraft Asteroid Collision: Light Polarization Changes | ESO

This animation shows how the polarization of sunlight reflected by the Dimorphos asteroid changed after the impact of NASA’s DART spacecraft. At the beginning of the video, unpolarized sunlight—represented by wiggly blue lines oscillating in random directions—is reflected off the surface of the asteroid. In so doing it becomes polarized, the reflected waves now oscillating along a preferred direction. The indicator on the lower right shows the degree of polarization of the reflected sunlight.

The DART impact ejected a cloud of debris, and after the collision the amount of polarization dropped, as seen with the FORS2 instrument on European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. This drop in polarization could be due to the exposure of more pristine material from the interior of Dimorphos, or the ejection of small particles produced during the impact.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M. Kornmesser

Duration: 24 seconds

Release Date: March 21, 2023

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