Key facts
- Category
- Asteroids
- Object class
- Binary near-Earth asteroid
- Composition
- Silicate (stony) rock
- Scale fact
- 851 mmaximum extent
- Mass
- ~520 million metric tons
65803 Didymos
851 mmaximum extent
Explore 65803 Didymos to scaleDetails
Didymos is the larger member of a binary near-Earth asteroid system targeted by NASA’s DART planetary-defense test. In 2022 the spacecraft struck its small moon Dimorphos to change its orbit.
Didymos rotates once every 2.26 hours and has an equatorial ridge consistent with loose material moving outward on the fast-spinning body. DART passed close enough to image Didymos but struck its moon Dimorphos instead. Because the smaller body repeatedly eclipses and passes in front of Didymos, telescopes could measure the resulting 33-minute change in its orbital period from the pair’s changing brightness.
Links
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- 65803 Didymos on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near 65803 Didymos on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, 65803 Didymos falls between 101955 Bennu and 152830 Dinkinesh. The band uses nearby Asteroids records.
Shared physical scale
1.61km
Sources
References for 65803 Didymos
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- 65803 Didymos — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (DART 2022 / NASA / Johns Hopkins APL, Public domain)
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.