NASA's DART mission revealed evidence that asteroids with moons exchange material through slow-moving debris impacts, with images showing fan-shaped streaks on the moon Dimorphos consistent with "cosmic snowballs" traveling at walking speed from its parent asteroid Didymos. The findings provide the first visual confirmation of the YORP effect, where sunlight accelerates asteroid rotation until surface material is ejected, suggesting binary asteroid systems are far more geologically active than previously understood.
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NASA's DART mission revealed evidence that asteroids with moons exchange material through slow-moving debris impacts, with images showing fan-shaped streaks on the moon Dimorphos consistent with "cosmic snowballs" traveling at walking speed from its parent asteroid Didymos. The findings provide the first visual confirmation of the YORP effect, where sunlight accelerates asteroid rotation until surface material is ejected, suggesting binary asteroid systems are far more geologically active than previously understood.