(ORDO NEWS) — The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered for the first time one of the smallest known asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The diameter of the object is from 100 to 200 meters.
The discovery was made during the calibration of the MIRI mid-infrared camera. To test the correct operation of the instrument’s filters, the engineers aimed the telescope at the asteroid discovered in 1998 (10920) 1998 BC1. During the tests, scientists noticed another small space rock.
During the subsequent analysis, the experts realized that a previously unknown asteroid, which is located at a distance of over 100 million kilometers from the Earth‘s orbit, fell into the field of view of MIRI.
Found asteroid today is one of the smallest objects of the main belt. Such small asteroids have not been identified by any telescope, which means that James Webb will be able to detect many more new unknown objects.
Astronomers now believe there are more than one million space rocks in the main asteroid belt, but only 4,000 have been identified.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.