SoCal Residents Could Be In For A Treat With An Aerial Lightshow Tonight, Courtesy Of SpaceX And NASA

Southern California residents could be getting an aerial lightshow on Tuesday night when Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk-led SpaceX and U.S. space agency NASA attempt to launch a planetary defense mission along the California central coast.

What Happened: SpaceX and NASA are planning to smash a satellite directly into an asteroid later tonight as part of their Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).

The experimental test attempts to find out if this is an effective way to change an asteroid’s course in the future to avoid a collision with Earth, SpaceX said in a tweet. 

NASA will intentionally crash the DART spacecraft into an asteroid to see if that is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2021

The launch, depending on visibility and weather conditions, could create dazzling light effects which could be seen across much of Southern California. 

See Also: Elon Musk Says SpaceX Eyeing To Launch Starship, 'The Biggest Rocket Ever Designed,' To Orbit In January

When Is It Scheduled: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch at 10:21 p.m. Tuesday. The DART spacecraft will target an asteroid known as Didymos, which is orbiting a larger asteroid called Dimorphos. 

The DART spacecraft will crash into Didymos in fall 2022 September at a speed of about 14,700 miles per hour to change its orbit.

The Didymos system poses no actual impact threat to Earth.