Courtesy of the extraordinary James Webb, Hubble it continues to be a major reference in space telescopes. Its decades of service, the impressive images it has provided us with over the years, as well as its durability and longevity (although it has, logically, already experienced a few ailments typical of its age) have made it one of the greatest achievements in engineering history for many, and for good reason.

In fact, when work began on James Webb’s project, which was originally supposed to go into orbit many years ago, the idea was that it should be used to replace the Hubble, as it was practically no one imagined that its lifespan would be extended as it eventually did. And although now it is James Webb’s images that arouse the interest of most (and this is also logical, because they are spectacular), the veteran telescope still observes the universe and provides us with remarkable images and information.

So far, the most recent example of this can be found in the latest publication on the US space agency’s website dedicated to the telescope, which states that Hubble detected fragments of Dimorphossome remains that have their origins, as you’ve probably guessed, in the DART collision that happened last October, which was, at least by current data, a huge success.

If you don’t remember, DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is a NASA project that aimed to evaluate whether the collision of an object designed for this purpose with an asteroid could significantly change its trajectory, a system that could be used to avoid the risk of potentially dangerous asteroids to our planet. However, the first observations provided very positive data It will be the European Space Agency’s HERA mission that will carry out the evaluation around 2026 on the page said effectsoutside the trajectory change.

The important aspect is that the collision did lead to a significant change in the trajectory of Dimorphos, but beyond that, scientists still have many doubts about the other effects of the collision. Thus the observations made by Hubble, which detected a total of 37 objects (ranging in size from less than one meter to 6.7 meters in diameter) and representing just 0.1% of the asteroid’s mass, it allows for a more complete assessment of all that DART did when it hit Dimorphos.

Images: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)