New asteroids found near Earth threaten our planet's safety
- Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified over 138 new decameter asteroids in the asteroid belt.
- These small asteroids, which are remnants from larger collisions, could pose threats to Earth with some having trajectories that bring them close.
- The findings represent a significant advancement in the detection of small asteroids and highlight the potential for ongoing discoveries.
In a significant development, astronomers have identified a large number of previously unknown asteroids using archival images from the James Webb Space Telescope. This discovery took place in the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. The newly found objects, known as decameter asteroids, range in size from that of a bus to several stadiums, highlighting the presence of smaller space rocks that are challenging to detect and monitor. This finding is particularly important due to the potential threat these asteroids pose to Earth through their trajectories. The team, including Julien de Wit from MIT, applied a novel computational method to analyze the extensive datasets from the telescope. By utilizing powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), they conducted a