Comment Size of the effect (Score 4, Interesting) 53
But before the Slashdot snark kicks in, keep in mind that this whole experiment was aimed principally at changing the orbit of the minimoon (Dimorphos) , rather than altering the orbit of the pair around the sun. That effect - the subject of this article - is a side effect of the main event. If they'd instead smashed into the main body (Didymos), the effect on the heliocentric velocity would be larger.