it was expected to be a huge success if it only slowed the orbit by about ten minutes. but it actually slowed it by 32 minutes. dr. lori glaze and the dark team will explain more about how we confirmed that. now, this is a watershed moment for planetary defense, and a watershed moment for humanity. reporter: so that is an image right there that nasa just released at this press conference, brand new, taken by the huble space telescope on saturday. what you re see thing is the aftermath of this impact, which was more than two weeks ago. you re seeing the bright spot, that s essentially the point of impact on this astroid. and then this tail that stretches for about 6,000 miles. so victor, this definitely proves that if a potential killer astroid were headed towards earth, this is the type of technique that nasa would try to deploy. the only catch is, you would have to deploy it many, many years in advance in order for it to work, victor. now at least we have proof of conc