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The James Webb Space Telescope accidentally discovered a small previously unknown celestial body in the asteroid belt drifting between Mars and Jupiter. This was reported by Ukrinform with
This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to Science Alert.
“We discovered a completely unexpected small asteroid in public MIRI calibration observations. “These measurements are among the first MIRI measurements to target the ecliptic plane, and our work shows that many new objects will be discovered with this instrument,” said astronomer Thomas Müller of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. It shows,” he said.
The MIRI instrument is responsible for medium resolution spectroscopy in the infrared radiation range.
As mentioned, the 100 to 200 meter asteroid is probably the smallest object ever observed by a telescope.
Asteroid detected
If the discovery is confirmed, it will be one of the smallest asteroids ever discovered in the Main Belt. Detection of such small asteroids is crucial for further study of objects in the belt.
So far, astronomers have correctly identified more than 600,000 Main Belt asteroids and have identified about 550,000 more tentatively, but scientists estimate there may be millions, most of them quite small.
First photo: N. Bartmann/ESA/Webb, ESO/M. Kornmesser and S. Brunier, N. Risinger
Source: Ukrinform
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