DART spacecraft intentionally hits asteroid, creates stunning debris cloud.

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) spacecraft intentionally crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos at 13,000 miles per hour in September 2022, successfully changing its orbital period around Didymos by 33 minutes. The collision also created a debris cloud that was tracked by astronomers for a month using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. The debris cloud initially appeared to be made of fine particles, but later revealed clumps and spirals of larger particles, as well as a long cometlike tail streaming behind the asteroid. The DART impact demonstrated how kinetic impact technology could be used to deflect asteroids that may pose a threat to Earth.