NASA's DART: How 'regular' folks - not astronomers - captured the impact

Did you know- just as you are- you can help defend our planet against threats from space? That is, the defense against Dimorphos, a moon of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos, required significant contributions from citizens from all walks of life- even amateurs. And what do they all share? Two words: scientific curiosity.

Now, according to a recent press release, their names are being honored in a paper published in Nature. 

Who are Unistellar citizen scientists?

31 Citizen 'space' scientists, as they are called, from Unistellar recorded accurate and meaningful observations supporting the NASA DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission. They collaborated with eight SETI Institute astronomers, led by SETI Institute postdoctoral fellow Ariel Graykowski. 

NASA's first test mission for planetary defense, DART, which seeks to test and validate a method to protect Earth in case of an asteroid strike, reached Dimorphos, a moon of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos on September 26, 2022. 

Unistellar citizen scientists were mobilized by SETI Institute researchers to observe the impact live, which was only visible from parts of Africa. Several observers in Kenya and Réunion Island successfully recorded the event with their smart telescope, witnessing the first successful deflection of an astronomical object using human technology.

"The observation of the impact of the DART probe on the asteroid Dimorphos was, for me, a very emotional moment that took me back almost 28 years earlier," said Patrice Huet in a press release, who directly observed the impact from Réunion Island. 

Huet highlighted that as a teenager, he attempted to watch Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 colliding with Jupiter. Even though he knew seeing this was near impossible, he maintained hope.

"I had the same feeling during the impact of the DART probe. But the surprise was yet to come when I observed the formation of the dust cloud around the asteroid. It was just incredible! This is a highlight of my life as an amateur astronomer made possible thanks to the Unistellar eVscope," he added. 

Frank Marchis, one of the SETI institute astronomers, highlighted how the citizen network is the only one to have produced a scientific analysis of the event, revealing the ejecta cloud and its aftereffects for a month.

"Our citizen astronomers were excited to witness with their Unistellar telescopes the impact of DART, the first-ever attempt to divert an asteroid," Marchis said.

"There is always a clear starry night somewhere in the Unistellar network, and that's, without doubt, the strength of our network; we can see any part of the sky at any time," he added.