DART impact nudges binary asteroid off its solar path

NASA's 2022 DART impact on Dimorphos not only shortened its orbit around Didymos (from 11h55m to 11h23m) but also nudged the entire Didymos–Dimorphos system onto a subtly different solar orbit, thanks to momentum from the ejecta which doubled the thrust. The system's solar-trajectory change is about 11.7 microns per second (roughly 1.7 inches per hour) and the orbit around the Sun shifted by about 0.15 seconds; the findings, published in Science Advances, confirm asteroid deflection is feasible and underscore the value of NEO Surveyor and amateur occultation observers who helped quantify the change. Dimorphos density ~1,540 kg/m3; Didymos ~2,600 kg/m3.