The James Webb Space Telescope accidentally discovered a small asteroid drifting between Mars and Jupiter. Previously, it was unknown. This is reported by Space.com, writes UNN.
We were able to detect near-Earth asteroids up to 10 meters in size when they were very close to Earth,
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It is noted that before that "in the asteroid belt" between Mars and Jupiter, at a distance of 180 million kilometers (the place where most small asteroids begin their path to Earth), the smallest object that astronomers were able to notice was about a kilometer wide.
Now Burdanov and his colleagues have discovered "only" a 10-meter asteroid in the area.
Now we have a way to detect these small asteroids when they are much further away (from Planet Earth – Ed.), and we can conduct more accurate orbital tracking, which is key to protecting the planet