Watch NASA crash a probe into an asteroid tonight

Do you have any plans for tonight? Nope? Well, you're in luck, because NASA is just hours away from intentionally crashing a probe into minor planet Dimorphos as part of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) - marking the first time that humanity intentionally tried to hit a space rock of course. If it works, we're well on our way to having a viable planetary defense system in case we ever detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. If that doesn't work. . . well, we still have time to come up with another plan.

To be clear, the 170-meter (560-foot) wide Dimorphos poses NO threat to us, nor will it after NASA hit it with an ion-powered spacecraft. It's simply a test to see if a small spacecraft impacting an asteroid head-on can slow it down enough to noticeably alter its orbital path. We won't know for about a week if the impact did the trick, but it should still be fascinating to see the crash happen live.

We've integrated the two NASA feeds below. The first will begin about half an hour before impact and show live navigation footage of Dimorphos as the DART spacecraft zeroes in on its target, and the second stream will cover the main event. Keep in mind this isn't a Hollywood movie we're talking about - don't expect any dramatic explosions when the clock hits zero. When the telemetry stops coming back, it means it was a target.