NASA telescope detects asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

According to a NASA statement, the object discovered by an international team of European astronomers is the smallest object ever observed by Webb.

“We – completely unexpectedly – found out a little asteroid In the publicly available MIRI calibration observations,” said Thomas Müller, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Germany,

During the analysis, the researchers observed smaller interlopers in the same area. It said the object measures 100–200 m, occupies a very low inclination orbit, and was located in the inner main-belt region at the time of the Webb observations.

The research, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, said the team’s project used data from the calibration of a mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) in which the team detected an interloping asteroid.

According to the research, these Webb observations were not designed to search for new asteroids – in fact, they were calibration images of a main-belt asteroid (10920) 1998 BC, which astronomers discovered in 1998.

Calibration is the act of checking or adjusting the accuracy of a measuring instrument by comparison with a standard.

“Our address is in the main asteroid belt, but Webb’s incredible sensitivity makes it possible to see an object about 100 meters across at a distance of more than 100 million kilometers,” said the researcher.

According to the research, current models predict the occurrence of very small asteroids, but due to the difficulty of observing these objects, smaller asteroids have been studied in less detail than their larger counterparts. Future The dedicated Webb observation will allow astronomers to study asteroids smaller than 1 kilometer in size, NASA said.

This result also suggested that Webb would also be able to contribute significantly to the detection of new asteroids.