James Webb discovers tiny main belt asteroid the size of Rome’s Colosseum

European astronomers use the James Webb Space Telescope in POT discovered asteroid the size of the Colosseum in Rome (from 100 to 200 meters in length).

Their project used Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) calibration data, during which the team was able to detect asteroid with patches. This object is probably the smallest observed to date. James Webb and may be an example of an object less than 1 kilometer long within the main belt asteroidslocated between Mars and Jupiter. Additional observations are needed to better characterize the nature and properties of this object.

“Quite unexpectedly, we discovered a small asteroid in publicly available MIRI calibration observations,” explains Thomas Müller, an astronomer at the Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Max Planck in Germany. With this device, they will discover many new objects.”

unique look

These Webb observations, published in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics, they were not designed to search for new asteroids; they were actually calibration images asteroid main belt (10920) 1998 BC1, which astronomers discovered in 1998. Observations were made to test the operation of some MIRI filters, but the calibration team concluded that they were technically unsuccessful due to target brightness and off-target pointing of the telescope.

Despite this, data on asteroid 10920 helped the team establish and test a new method for limiting the object’s orbit and estimating its size. The validity of the method has been demonstrated for asteroid 10920 using MIRI observations combined with data from ground-based telescopes and the ESA Gaia mission.

Through analysis of the MIRI data, the team found asteroid smaller in the same field of view. The team’s results show that the object has a diameter of 100 to 200 meters, occupies a very low inclination orbit, and was in the inner region of the main belt at the time of the spacecraft’s observations. James Webb.

“Our results show that even Webb’s ‘failed’ observations can be scientifically useful if you have the right mindset and a bit of luck,” explains Muller. “Our discovery is in the main belt asteroidsbut Webb’s incredible sensitivity made it possible to see this 100-meter object at a distance of more than 100 million kilometers.

Least?

Finding it asteroid – which the team suspects is the smallest observed to date James Webb and one of the smallest discovered in the main belt – would be if a new discovery were confirmed asteroidsimportant implications for our understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system.

Current models predict very small asteroids, but they have been studied in less detail than their larger counterparts due to the difficulty of observing these objects. Webb’s future observations will allow astronomers to study asteroids smaller than a kilometer.

Moreover, this result indicates that James Webb may also accidentally contribute to the discovery of new asteroids. The team suspects that even short MIRI observations near the plane of the solar system will always include a few asteroids, most of which will be unknown objects.

To confirm that the detected object is asteroid recently discovered, additional data on the position of background stars from subsequent surveys is needed to limit the object’s orbit. (Europe Press)

We recommend you METADATA, an RPP technology podcast. News, analytics, reviews, recommendations and everything you need to know about the tech world.