About the Object

Category: Solar System

Illustration of Asteroid (Artist’s Impression)

A previously unknown 100–200-metre asteroid — roughly the size of Rome’s Colosseum — has been detected by an international team of European astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Their project used data from the calibration of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), in which the team serendipitously detected an interloping asteroid. The object is likely the smallest observed to date by Webb and may be an example of an object measuring under 1 kilometer in length within the main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. More observations are needed to better characterize this object’s nature and properties.

[Image Description: This artist's impression shows a grey, irregularly-shaped asteroid against a dark background.]

Credit:

N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), ESO/M. Kornmesser and S. Brunier, N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

About the Image

Id: weic2304a
Type: Artwork
Release date: 6 February 2023, 16:00
Related releases: weic2304
Size: 3405 x 2211 px


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