After only two weeks astronomers have been able to peer through the dust cloud and measure just how effective the DART mission was at changing the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos. And this is surprising because I had worried the amount of dust in the vicinity would make measuring the photometry with enough precision a lot more difficult, and a small change to the orbital period would be lost in the noise.
However the change in orbital period is so huge that it was possible to pick out the change with ease, the orbital period changed by more than half an hour, from its initial 12 hour duration, this makes the event massively more effective than the minimal expected performance they set to declare success. The asteroids location diverges from its original votive orbit at over 600 meters per day.
This is great news for Humanity
See more of the images and footage from the mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-dart-imagery-shows-changed-orbit-of-target-asteroid/
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