Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Area Company’s (ASI) LICIACube previous to affect on the Didymos binary system. Picture credit score: Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

On the finish of September, NASA’s DART mission was intentionally crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos. Not carelessness, however a deliberate act with a view to testing planetary protection. In spite of everything, if we uncover one thing massive heading in the direction of Earth, we would need to have the ability to nudge it off beam.

Right here in Wales, the Comet Chasers group took a diversion from observing comets to Dimorphos with the Las Combres Observatory international community of telescopes. However they weren’t those doing the observing – that work is completed by faculty kids and members of the general public at festivals and the like.

Crew members Cai Stoddard-Jones, Helen Usher and Prof Paul Roche clarify the aim of the mission, what it’s taught us, and what contribution the college college students have been making to “assist NASA”.

An prolonged version of an authentic broadcast on 2nd November 2022 as a part of Pythagoras’ Trousers on Radio Cardiff.