Latest Close-up View of Didymos Asteroids | European Space Agency Hera Mission

Latest Close-up View of Didymos Asteroids | European Space Agency Hera Mission

This image reveals the geological richness of the larger asteroid’s surface. It includes large boulders, smoother regions, and a surprisingly sharp equatorial ridge. The existence of this ridge may be due to the fact that the spinning-top shaped Didymos rotates every 2.2 hours—fast enough that it is close to coming apart.

Numerical models of fast-spinning asteroids suggest this spin might be causing surface material to flow down from higher latitudes down to its equator. It may be possible that material is being sloughed off from the larger asteroid—potentially accounting for the existence of its smaller moonlet, Dimorphos.

The mostly concealed Dimorphos orbits a little more than a kilometer from Didymos with a few boulders visible along its top side. Detailed images of both asteroids will be unveiled on November 25. 

NASA’s DART spacecraft impacted the smaller Dimorphos asteroid on September 26, 2022, as a planetary defense exercise—but this image gives another view of its adjacent parent asteroid.

In this image, acquired by Hera’s monochromatic Asteroid Framing Camera, most of the 151-meter diameter Dimorphos asteroid is hidden by the 780-meter diameter Didymos asteroid.

Mostly unseen in this image, the smaller Dimorphos asteroid is the first Solar System object to have had its orbit measurably changed by human action. Following the impact of NASA's 580 kg DART spacecraft, moving at about 6.1 km/s, the orbit of Dimorphos was shortened around Didymos by 33 minutes give or minus a minute—a much higher change than was previously predicted.

Hera, after its two-year flight to these double asteroids—currently over 196.8 million km from Earth—is about to perform a close-up ‘crash site investigation’. Hera’s discoveries will help turn the kinetic impact method of asteroid deflection from a one-off experiment to a well understood and potentially repeatable technique if ever Earth comes under threat.

Detailed images of both asteroids will be unveiled on November 25, 2026.

Hera is carrying two small CubeSat spacecraft, called Milani and Juventas. Hera has a mass of 1,128 kg (2,487 lb). Its payload includes cameras, an altimeter, and a spectrometer. The spacecraft was launched on October 7, 2024, by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. 

Learn more about the Hera Mission:
https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Release Date: Nov. 13, 2026

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