Dimorphos
Sign in to saveAlso known as (65803) Didymos I, (65803) I, S/2003 (65803) 1, Didymoon, Didymos I, Didymos B, Dimorphous
Dimorphos (formal designation (65803) Didymos I; provisional designation S/2003 (65803) 1) is a natural satellite or moon of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, with which it forms a binary system. The moon was discovered on 20 November 2003 by Petr Pravec in collaboration with other astronomers worldwide. Dimorphos has a diameter of across its longest extent.
Key facts
- Planet.inclination
- with respect to ecliptic
- Planet.name
- Dimorphos
- Planet.image
- Dimorphos North-Up Image Composition (final 10 full-frame images).png
- Planet.caption
- High-resolution view of Dimorphos, created by combining the final 10 full-frame images obtained by DART's Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO). Dimorphos is oriented so that its north pole is toward the top of the image. Taken seconds before impact on September 26, 2022.
- Planet.discoverer
- Petr Pravec et al.
- Planet.discovery_site
- Ondřejov Observatory
- Planet.discovered
- 20 November 2003
- Planet.mpc_name
- Didymos I
- Planet.alt_names
- S/2003 (65803) 1Didymos B"Didymoon"
- Planet.named_after
- Greek word for "having two forms"
- Planet.satellite_of
- 65803 Didymos
- Planet.epoch
- 26 September 2022 23:14:24.183 UTC(JD ; impact time)
- Planet.semimajor
- (pre-impact) (post-impact)
- Planet.eccentricity
- (pre-impact) or (post-impact)
- Planet.avg_speed
- (pre-impact)
- Planet.dimensions
- m (± m)
- Planet.mean_diameter
- (volume equivalent)
- Planet.mass
- (if density is )≈ (if same density as Didymos)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Area
- 0.089
- Diameter
- 171
- Radius
- 75.5
- Mass
- 4300000000
- Orbital period
- 40932.24
- Image
- Stacked image of Dimorphos true orientation.jpg
Show 13 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 2003-11-20
- provisional designation
- S/2003 (65803) 1
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.0274
- absolute magnitude
- 21.3
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 1.189
- rotation period
- 0.5167
- orbital inclination
- 3
- Commons category
- Dimorphos
- mean anomaly
- 89.2
- albedo
- 0.15
- periapsis
- 1.156
- apoapsis
- 1.222
- volume as quantity
- 0.00181
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Discovery
- Naming
- Exploration
- Size and shape
- Surface
- Orbit and rotation
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- External links
Dimorphos (formal designation (65803) Didymos I; provisional designation S/2003 (65803) 1) is a natural satellite or moon of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, with which it forms a binary system. The moon was discovered on 20 November 2003 by Petr Pravec in collaboration with other astronomers worldwide. Dimorphos has a diameter of across its longest extent.
Dimorphos is the smallest asteroid to be photographed and visited by a spacecraft. It was the target of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a NASA space mission that deliberately collided a spacecraft with the moon on 26 September 2022 to alter its orbit around Didymos. Before the impact by DART, Dimorphos had a shape of an oblate spheroid with a surface covered in boulders but virtually no craters. The moon is thought to have formed when Didymos shed its mass due to its rapid rotation, which formed an orbiting ring of debris that conglomerated into a low-density rubble pile that became Dimorphos today.