In a NASA-produced video released on social media, Dr. Eileen Ryan, an astronomer and researcher at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO), was interviewed about MRO's 2.4-meter telescope's involvement in the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission. The telescope is one of three contracted (funded) ground-based observatories that are supporting the mission to kinetically impact a binary asteroid. Dr. Ryan said that NASA will be use images of MRO's data of the ejecta plume evolution around the asteroid Dimorphos as it evolves post-impact. The MRO is the only observatory in the Northern Hemisphere to get visible wavelength data. Dr. Ryan said the DART Mission will help NASA better understand how to mitigate potentially hazardous asteroids in the future.

Watch the NASA interview of Dr. Ryan below.