Incredible new images show moment spacecraft collided with asteroid

Incredible!

The first images of the aftermath of NASA’s DART spacecraft crashing into an asteroid have been released.

• Scroll down for more images of the immediate aftermath of the asteroid crash

The crash was live-streamed via a camera onboard the DART spacecraft yesterday, but cut out upon impact with asteroid Dimorphosis.

Now, images from Italian satellite LICIACube have been released showing the actual moment of impact.

Astronomer with Australian National University, Dr Brad Tucker, says there are two measure of the mission’s success. It’s met one, but it’ll be a few weeks before we know if it’s met the other.

“There’s one: hitting the target, which we saw happen,” Dr Tucker said.

“And then really the shifting of the asteroid and we won’t know about that for a couple of weeks.”

Press PLAY below to hear Dr Tucker’s explainer on the DART mission

Image: ASI/NASA