{"id":133506,"date":"2023-01-31T11:53:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T16:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=133506"},"modified":"2023-01-31T11:53:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T16:53:47","slug":"ucf-researchers-use-webb-telescope-to-monitor-double-ringed-asteroid-more-than-2-billion-miles-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-researchers-use-webb-telescope-to-monitor-double-ringed-asteroid-more-than-2-billion-miles-away\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Researchers Use Webb Telescope to Monitor Double-ringed Asteroid More Than 2 Billion Miles Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have detected the ring system of a small, icy asteroid more than 2 billion miles away with remarkable precision.<\/p>\n

The work demonstrates a new way to use the space telescope and opens the door to an advanced means of characterizing small objects in the distant solar system.<\/p>\n

The researchers made the observations in October 2022 and shared their findings online<\/a> this month.<\/p>\n

The celestial object is called Chariklo, and its double rings were first discovered by a team of astronomers in 2013. The existence of the rings was surprising because previously it was thought that only the giant planets could have rings.<\/p>\n

Chariklo is the second smallest celestial object that has confirmed rings and is the fifth ringed celestial object discovered in the solar system.<\/p>\n

The new observations using the JWST captured data will allow researchers to delve deeper into the rings\u2019 composition, including their thickness, and the sizes and colors of the rings\u2019 particles.<\/p>\n

These observations were the first time that the technique known as stellar occultation was performed with the JWST.<\/p>\n

An occultation occurs when objects in the solar system pass in front of a star, making the light from the star disappear during a short period of time.<\/p>\n

Noem\u00ed Pinilla-Alonso, an associate scientist at UCF\u2019s Florida Space Institute<\/a> who works on the occultation research and leads the spectroscopy research, described the occultation as a \u201cwink\u201d of the star, just a very short event that can happen in seconds.<\/p>\n