Insights into aftermath of intentional asteroid impact revealed by VLT data.

Two new papers report on data collected by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope about the aftermath of the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission, which successfully altered the orbit of the small binary asteroid Dimorphos. The papers reveal that the impact changed the asteroid's surface and its orbit, which is now "tens of meters" closer to its larger companion Didymos. The debris from the collision also provides astronomers with a better glimpse into the asteroid's past.