"I find it interesting that although Dart made a direct hit on the asteroid, it will take a couple of months to know how that impact will affect the astroid's orbit."
Yes, this is why it's so important to find an asteroid that threatens the planet as early as possible, hence the new emphasis on "planetary defense" observatories and projects in Hawaii and elsewhere in recent years. We now have the technology to launch something that will hit an asteroid and deflect it but that change in direction is very small, so the earlier you can carry out such an intercept the better the chances of success. Remember, you're trying to deflect something that is the size of a small mountain that is moving very quickly with a relatively small probe that has a tiny mass relative to the asteroid. In order to measure that small change in direction, you need a lot of time to reduce the observational errors. Unlike the way some Hollywood movies depict, you can't measure an orbit with just one or two observations.
Yes, this is why it's so important to find an asteroid that threatens the planet as early as possible, hence the new emphasis on "planetary defense" observatories and projects in Hawaii and elsewhere in recent years. We now have the technology to launch something that will hit an asteroid and deflect it but that change in direction is very small, so the earlier you can carry out such an intercept the better the chances of success. Remember, you're trying to deflect something that is the size of a small mountain that is moving very quickly with a relatively small probe that has a tiny mass relative to the asteroid. In order to measure that small change in direction, you need a lot of time to reduce the observational errors. Unlike the way some Hollywood movies depict, you can't measure an orbit with just one or two observations.