The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to unveil the first detailed images of the asteroid Dimorphos from its Hera spacecraft on November 25, 2026, according to Hera mission manager Ian Carnelli.
On October 18, Hera’s Asteroid Framing Camera resolved Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos as two separate objects for the first time, from 1,280 km (795 miles) away, while the pair was about 197 million km from Earth. In that first image Dimorphos covers only about one pixel. Two braking burns a week apart earlier in October slowed Hera to 20 m/s relative to the asteroids so it can close in gradually. Dimorphos is about 151 m across, and Didymos about 780 m; they orbit about 1.15 km apart. NASA’s DART spacecraft hit Dimorphos on September 26, 2022, shortening its orbit by about 33 minutes. Over the coming months Hera will study the impact site, release two shoebox-sized CubeSats and eventually land, helping scientists judge how well this kind of impact could deflect a dangerous asteroid.
Image: Didymos and Dimorphos as seen by NASA’s DART spacecraft. R. Terik Daly et al., CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.