JWST sighting of decametre main-belt asteroids and view on meteorite sources
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F25%3A10511143" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/25:10511143 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=dxjq0S5-xE" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=dxjq0S5-xE</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08480-z" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-024-08480-z</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
JWST sighting of decametre main-belt asteroids and view on meteorite sources
Original language description
Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defence efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth(1), including the more frequent(2) megaton explosions from decametre impactors(3, 4, 5-6). Although large asteroids (>= 100kilometres) have remained in the main belt since their formation(7), small asteroids are commonly transported to the near-Earth object (NEO) population(8,9). However, owing to the lack of direct observational constraints, their size-frequency distribution (SFD)-which informs our understanding of the NEOs and the delivery of meteorite samples to Earth-varies substantially among models(10, 11, 12, 13-14). Here we report 138 detections of some of the smallest asteroids (greater than or similar to 10metres) ever observed in the main belt, which were enabled by JWST's infrared capabilities covering the emission peaks of the asteroids(15) and synthetic tracking techniques(16, 17-18). Despite small orbital arcs, we constrain the distances and phase angles of the objects using known asteroids as proxies, allowing us to derive sizes through radiometric techniques. Their SFD shows a break at about 100metres (debiased cumulative slopes of q=-2.660.60 and -0.97 +/- 0.14 for diameters smaller and larger than roughly 100metres, respectively), suggestive of a population driven by collisional cascade. These asteroids were sampled from several asteroid families-most probably Nysa, Polana and Massalia-according to the geometry of pointings considered here. Through further long-stare infrared observations, JWST is poised to serendipitously detect thousands of decametre-scale asteroids across the sky, examining individual asteroid families(19) and the source regions of meteorites(13,14) 'in situ'.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA25-16507S" target="_blank" >GA25-16507S: Early dynamics of planets and analysis of asteroid populations</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Nature
ISSN
0028-0836
e-ISSN
1476-4687
Volume of the periodical
638
Issue of the periodical within the volume
8049
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
20
Pages from-to
74-78
UT code for WoS article
001408562000001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85217249170