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Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

You are here: Home / Science & Technology / Open Thread: A Smashing Success

Open Thread: A Smashing Success

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The results are in, and NASA’s recent planetary defense proof-of-concept was a big success:

You may recall that the probe was crashed into one asteroid that orbits another asteroid. The goal was to shorten its orbital period, which is a very convenient visual measurement of imparted force. (In orbital mechanics, assuming classroom conditions, the time it takes to do a full orbit is a function of the satellite’s speed, and vice-versa, so we can determine the change in speed by the change in period, and from that extrapolate the effect of the impact.)

According to the NASA press release, they really smacked the crap out of that thing:

Prior to DART’s impact, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid, Didymos. Since DART’s intentional collision with Dimorphos on Sept. 26, astronomers have been using telescopes on Earth to measure how much that time has changed. Now, the investigation team has confirmed the spacecraft’s impact altered Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes, shortening the 11 hour and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes. This measurement has a margin of uncertainty of approximately plus or minus 2 minutes.

Before its encounter, NASA had defined a minimum successful orbit period change of Dimorphos as change of 73 seconds or more. This early data show DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times.

There are two reasons for this discrepancy. First, we only have an estimate for the asteroid’s mass. Second, and more importantly, the surface composition of the asteroid was unknown. If it had been a solid block of iron-nickel, and remained fully intact, the only force acting upon it would have been that of the probe’s impact. This was not the case–the collision released a considerable amount of ejecta, surface material that flew away from the impact site. Since every action has an equal and opposite reaction, this served to amplify the force of the impact. We’ll know more about how this worked in the experiment, and what that means for the future, as the scientists continue crunching the numbers. In the meantime, let’s hope that any troublemakers lurking out in the dark have received the message:

A Smashing Success

Afternoon open thread!

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    I am digging out my original cast album of Sweeney Todd to listen to and sing along with tonight. Best Mrs Lovett EVER — nobody else even comes close.

  7. 7.

    Mowgli

    But where is the scrappy band of space drillers and Aerosmith soundtrack, I wonder? Could this even be called a success without a Bruce Willis video call saying goodbye to a weeping Liv Tyler?

  8. 8.

    Suzanne

    I suppose it should be pointed out that a bunch of nerds who went to college figured this out, and not some dudes with common sense and upper body strength. Automation is putting all those dudes outta work.

  11. 11.

    Suzanne

    Speaking of beleaguered white working class Republicans, we got a call from our victim advocate about the dude who broke into our house. He’s going to be offered a plea bargain. If he accepts it, he will have a felony on his record but not have to register as a sex offender. He’ll likely be sentenced to time already served. I don’t know if this means he’ll be able to vote or not.

    Some other conditions, but that’s the main thrust.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: Depends on the state, but a felony normally would block voting, until other conditions were met.   Does this mean he is moving back to the neighborhood?

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    @JPL: No, he is not allowed to come back to the neighborhood. There will also be some probation and monitoring, blah blah blah.

    Dude has a 20-year history of this kind of criming, so I am not hopeful that he will stop being a fuckup.

  15. 15.

    West of the Rockies

    @Suzanne:

    About seven years ago, a local meth-head shitbird broke into the house (blasted out of his mind), stripped, and did something on my 12year old’s discarded skirt.  How that (ejaculated) doesn’t count as a sex crime, I don’t know.  He did 24 hours and then was out.

  16. 16.

    Splitting Image

    @NotMax:

    Per comments in thread below, Angela Lansbury has died.

    She was in Gaslight in 1944 with Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten. A very long and successful career.

    Speaking of which, I need to re-watch some of the Murder, She Wrote episodes. It was made by the same team who did Columbo and Ellery Queen in the ’70s, and I’ve been re-watching and enjoying both of those recently.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    @West of the Rockies: That’s disgusting.

    Also that’s pretty similar to what this dude did, although he was already naked when he broke in and managed to do close to $6K in damage in about three minutes. The fact that he was naked within eyeshot of a child meant he could have been convicted of a felony sex crime, but that one is being negotiated down to a misdemeanor,

  22. 22.

    Suzanne

    @JPL: Yeah, I know. He officially no longer lives behind me, his shit was all removed from the apartment. So he shouldn’t have any reason to come back. But that’s, you know, rational thinking. Not something the meth-y do very well.

  25. 25.

    bbleh

    Woohoo!  Go nerds!  (Also, y’know, maybe saving the entire fking Earth someday, just sayin’…)

  27. 27.

    West of the Rockies

    NASA updated statement:  The good news is that we changed the course of the asteroid.   The bad news is that there was an alien-race military base on the asteroid.  They’re kinda pissed…

  28. 28.

    Splitting Image

    @Matt McIrvin:

    She seemed immortal for a while there, like she had abruptly become about 40-50 years old one day and stayed that way for over half a century.

    She was Patrick Stewart before Patrick Stewart was.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    That was utterly delightful! And you are a miracle at finding these things. Thank you, NM

    ETA: Dame Julie just turned 87. A comparative youngster, but there’s a whole generation of great actresses who could leave us at any time, and she’s one of them. Glenda Jackson, Maggie Smith, Phyllida Law, Susan Hampshire, Diana Rigg, and so many others.

    And that’s just some of the Brits.

    ETATA: Well fucketty fuck. Diana Rigg died two years ago. Did I know that and just forgot? I think I didn’t know that. Wow.

  30. 30.

    Splitting Image

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:

    The thing I always think of regarding her is a line many years ago from a TV critic in an SF newspaper, when he referred to “the bloodbath that is Cabot Cove” – still cracks me up to this day :P

    The only place in America more dangerous than Sunnydale.

  33. 33.

    Redshift

    @Matt McIrvin:

    She seemed immortal for a while there, like she had abruptly become about 40-50 years old one day and stayed that way for over half a century.

    Yeah, I remember seeing The Manchurian Candidate at a repertory theater decades after it came out, and being struck by the fact that she still looked exactly the same.

  35. 35.

    bjacques

    A couple of years ago I saw a Murder She Wrote episode in which she goes to New York because a nephew works there, and foils a murder plot against a couple who are obviously Donald and Ivana Trump.

  36. 36.

    Redshift

    The DART mission is just so cool. “Planetary Defense” – I could definitely have ended up with that career if I’d taken a slightly different path.

  38. 38.

    Redshift

    @bjacques:

    A couple of years ago I saw a Murder She Wrote episode in which she goes to New York because a nephew works there, and foils a murder plot against a couple who are obviously Donald and Ivana Trump.

    Kind of amazing how that has transformed in retrospect from a bit of pop-culture fluff to a “kill baby Hitler” philosophical question…

  39. 39.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Sorry to vent again but…so after a ton of effort, time and $, my wife has found a retirement home that will work and should be affordable enough for my In-Laws, once MIL gets out of the hospital and they get on Medicaid.  My wife and FIL have both been staying at the hospital with MIL and it’s driving my wife crazy.  He insists that they have MSNBC on at blaring volumes, almost 24/7.  There was a panel of Black Women on to discuss that clown, Hershel Walker but FIL loudly announced “I’m gonna change the channel, I don’t want to listen to these people” right in front of a couple Black nurses.  But you see, he’s really Progressive and loves Bernie so he CAN’T be racist…

    My wife finally convinced him to go home and start packing and getting rid of stuff for the move at the end of the month.  He calls back a couple hours later complaining about having to do so much.  He’s been doing absolutely NOTHING for the past 2.5 months except sit in MIL’s hospital rooms and complaining and making it all about him even though MIL likely only has a couple months left.  Now, as my wife is spending a month out there trying to get them moved he’s being more trouble than help and also being completely ungrateful, getting mad any time she has to explain doctor stuff to him that he didn’t understand etc.  Meanwhile my wife is still working on her laptop, taking meetings and trying to manage the wrap-up of a major work project.  MIL is also being ridiculous and insisting that when she passes we bury her in West Virginia even though we’ve told her that there is simply no way we could afford to do that, and sure as hell wouldn’t spend our life/retirement savings on it even if we could.  The whole situation is so frustrating and my FIL is yet again proving to be a complete narcissist.  I told my wife last night that once we get him moved into the retirement home and once her Mom passes, I’m perfectly fine with us letting him live out his days there with very few visits from us.  He’s really burning the bridge on any possibility of a healthy future relationship with us.  My wife resents them both and really is only doing what she is out of feelings of guilt and familial duty.  I can’t wait for her to get them moved so she can come back home and we can start to resume our lives.

    Okay, venting over :)

  40. 40.

    piratedan

    @West of the Rockies: c’mon, they can’t be that advanced if they couldn’t intercept a pokey ol’ NASA satelite heading to their base…

    they’ve probably looked at our media output and determined that there’s no intelligent life here anyway….

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @twbrandt (formerly tom):

    She was also the host on PBS Mystery! for a few years, and starred in one of the most terrifying psychological thrillers I’ve ever seen, a three-parter called Mother Love. It was the stuff of nightmares — and I’d give a lot to see it again! David McCallum co-starred as her hated ex-husband. AFAICT it’s never shown up on DVD or streaming or any other home media.

  44. 44.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JPL: Thanks.  I just feel terrible for my wife.  She’s just now kind of realizing how they’ve been incredibly selfish and entitled for most of her life.  I wish I could be there to help (though I don’t think I’d be able to be very diplomatic with FIL’s bullshit).

  45. 45.

    evodevo

    @UncleEbeneezer: Welcome to the club…my husband’s cousin is going through a similar mess with her mother (90+) who lives several states away, is what I would label a narcissistic sociopath and manipulative as hell, and is now suffering from several medical conditions that would definitely prevent her from living alone, but the hospital demands she be taken elsewhere, and wants her sent to rehab.  Her current physician told our relative last week that she qualified for nursing home hospice, and wouldn’t last out the month, but recanted (don’t know why!) yesterday and said she was fine and could be discharged!!  I’m just glad we got through this already many years ago with the various ‘rents.  Just a dilemma…

  47. 47.

    Eolirin

    @The Moar You Know: More and better social services, making sure everyone has a stable place to live and ability to afford to eat well, better early education, especially teaching emotional regulation, conflict resolution, cooperation, and other important social skills, some kind of revival of the jobs works projects so government as employer of last resort and other things that the toxic masculinity that pervades our society will resist tooth and nail. Oh, also, continued pollution clean up, especially lead remediation.

    Basically we need people to feel safe, have something they can find meaningful to do with their lives, have adequate access to addiction and mental health services, and to learn how to respond in emotionally healthly ways to stress, conflict and impulsivity. And to not be poisoned by their environment. It won’t eliminate everything, but it will lower the numbers.

  48. 48.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @evodevo: Oh, that’s very similar to our situation.  MIL (who is a double lung transplant survivor) was so bad that my wife was having end-of-life discussions with her last week but has now recovered enough where she may be able to eventually leave the hospital.  What makes it all the more frustrating is that they have done absolutely nothing to plan, save or even discuss this stuff.  They are 80 and 76 years old.  And this whole thing prevented us from moving to Hudson Valley right about now (which we had been majorly excited for).

  50. 50.

    Eolirin

    @UncleEbeneezer: That’s a shame, we finally started moving out of the gross summer heat a week or two ago out here. I hope things resolve for you soon and that you’re able to make your way out.

  52. 52.

    mrmoshpotato

    Learned recently that the Lane Tech robotics club is named the Chicago-Style Bot Dogs and I just want the rest of the world to know that too.— Dibs Endorser (@ekgundy) October 11, 2022

  53. 53.

    arrieve

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yes, I loved Mother Love! She played the narcissistic smothering mother to perfection. It has never been on DVD, or as far as I know, seen again after the original showing. I think you can only get bootleg copies.

  54. 54.

    C Stars

    I was curious about the naming, so I looked it up. Apparently the Greek Didymos means “twin” and “Dimorphos” (easier to guess) means two forms.

    (Before I came to twin for Didymos I found that didymo is the term for a kind of organism that lives in creeks, more commonly called rock snot)

     

    Anyway, I stole this from Wikipedia for you:

     

    This minor planet was named “Didymos”, Greek for “twin”, due to its binary nature. The name was suggested by the discoverer, University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory astronomer Joseph L. “Joe” Montani, who made the naming proposal to the International Astronomical Union after the binary nature of the object was detected. The approved naming citation was published on 13 July 2004 (M.P.C. 52326).

    The proper name for the satellite Didymos B comes from the word “Dimorphos”, Greek for “having two forms”. The meaning of the name represents how the form of Dimorphos’s orbit will change after the collision with NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, though in fact the change will be only a very slight change in its orbital parameters. Appropriately, Dimorphos serves dual roles as both a test target and as a part of a blueprint for a modality for future planetary protection. The name of the moon was suggested by planetary scientist Kleomenis Tsiganis at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

  55. 55.

    MomSense

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So good!  They’ve already gotten a lot of gigs.  The crowd was really into their playing. The festival owner and organizers loved them.  It was a great day.
    I got to hear some great music and party with two of my sons, and my DIL.  It’s one of the the great joys in life to be friends with your adult kids.
    I was down for the count yesterday, though.

  57. 57.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @arrieve:

    And I don’t understand why. Who wants it to remain unseen? I guess there must be some kind of copyright or IP legal issue but I can’t imagine at this late date what that could be!

    Glad I’m not the only one here who remembers it.

  58. 58.

    Martin

    Thankfully in some future effort to deflect a planet killer – it’s extraordinarily rare that a scenario would develop that doing it *too* well would be a problem.

  60. 60.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: I was surprised to learn not too long ago that she originated the role of Mame in Auntie Mame on Broadway. Somewhere there’s video of her and Bea Arthur in their 60s (at least) doing the “Bosom Buddies” number.

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