Europe's Hera probe captures its first distinct image of asteroid Dimorphos

By the Everything Space news desk · 03 Nov 2026 · written from the sources below

Image: Space.com

The spacecraft's early glimpse of the DART impact target marks progress toward detailed observations expected later this month.

The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft has captured its first image clearly distinguishing the asteroid Dimorphos from its larger companion Didymos, as the probe nears the end of its journey to the binary asteroid system.

The image was taken from a distance of about 795 miles from the pair, which currently sit roughly 122 million miles from Earth. According to ESA project scientist Michael Kueppers, Dimorphos appears as only about a single pixel in the picture, but is now visibly separate from Didymos, whereas earlier images showed the two bodies as one indistinguishable point.

Hera, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in October 2024, is traveling to the Didymos system to examine the aftermath of NASA's DART mission. DART deliberately struck Dimorphos in September 2022, altering its orbit in what was the first demonstration of asteroid deflection for planetary defense purposes.

The spacecraft recently carried out braking maneuvers to slow down and align itself for its approach to the asteroid pair. Once it arrives, Hera will use a set of 12 instruments to study the impact site and gather data on the physical properties of both asteroids, information that could inform future planetary defense strategies.

The mission also carries two small cubesats intended for closer inspection of Dimorphos, with plans for one to eventually land on its surface.

ESA mission manager Ian Carnelli said that the spacecraft's imagery will improve significantly as it gets closer, with detailed pictures of Dimorphos expected to be released later in November. Dimorphos holds the distinction of being the first object in the solar system known to have had its orbit altered through human action.

Written in Everything Space’s own words by our news-desk model from the sources above, and checked against them in code: every number in this report appears in its sources, and no sentence is copied from them.