(ORDO NEWS) — The size of the stone is comparable to the Roman Colosseum. This is the smallest space object found by a modern telescope.
The James Webb Space Telescope is not designed to search for asteroids, but that doesn’t mean it can’t see them. His latest find turned out to be a small stone, previously unknown to scientists. Space.com writes about it.
The new asteroid was spotted by accident. This happened during the calibration of one of the Webb instruments – MIRI.
This is the name of the instrument for studying the depths of space in the mid-infrared range. It is able to distinguish longer wavelengths of light that the human eye cannot see.
Scientists estimated the size of the space rock, and also determined exactly where it is located. It is located in the inner region of the main asteroid belt. Its orbit has a slight tilt.
“Our results show that even ‘failed’ Webb observations can be scientifically useful.
The main thing is the right attitude and a little luck, says Thomas Muller, an astronomer from the Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Max Planck in Germany.
“The incredible sensitivity of the telescope instruments made it possible to see this approximately 100-meter object at a distance of more than 100 million kilometers from us.”
Technical equipment of the telescope
Recall that the latest James Webb telescope, launched into space on December 25, 2021, is equipped with many scientific instruments for studying space objects, including:
- Near-Infrared Camera (Near-Infrared Camera)
- Device for working in the middle range of infrared radiation (English Mid-Infrared Instrument, MIRI)
- Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
- Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), as well as an imaging device in the near infrared range and a slitless spectrograph (Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, NIRISS)
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