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Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defense efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth, including the more frequent megaton explosions from decameter impactors. While large asteroids (=>100 km) have remained in the main belt since their formation, small asteroids are commonly transported to the near-Earth object (NEO) population. "We have been able to detect NEOs down to 10 m in size when they are really close to Earth," said Dr.
Artem Burdanov, a researcher at MIT. "We now have a way of spotting these small asteroids when they are much farther away, so we can do more precise orbital tracking, which is key for planetary defense." For the study, the astronomers looked for small asteroids using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
As it happens, asteroids that orbit in the main asteroid belt are much brighter at infrared wavelengths than at visible wavelengths, and thus are far easier to detect with Webb's infrared capabilities. The researchers were able to spot eight known..
. News Staff.
