Billions of kilometers beyond the orbit of Saturn , there ’s a population of asteroids known as the Centaurs . The heavy among them isChariklo , a rock 250 km ( 160 Admiralty mile ) across that is known for also sustain two thin rings .
The discovery of these two doughnut happened thanks to a phenomenon call up stellar occultation . When an object passes in front of a distant star , the amount of clear cutpurse . This coming has been used to discover moons and study atm in the Solar System . And in the case of Chariklo , Felipe Braga - Ribas and collaborator saw five dips – four from the ring and one from the asteroid itself .
research worker decided to do something standardised withJWSTtoo ; and , as luck would have it , a star found itself almost right on behind Chariklo last October . They were not utterly aligned , so only the rings covered the superstar . This was the first starring occultation for JWST and last October 22 went swimmingly .
Schematic view of the occulation and the light curve seen by JWST. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI); Science: Pablo Santos-Sanz (IAA/CSIC), Nicolás Morales (IAA/CSIC), Bruno Morgado (UFRJ, ON/MCTI, LIneA).
“ As we delve deeply into the data , we will search whether we flawlessly solve the two ringing . From the shapes of ring ’ eclipse light curves , we also will explore the ring ’ heaviness , the sizes and colors of the ring particles , and more . We go for addition insight into why this little body even has rings at all , and perhaps detect new fainter rings , ” Pablo Santos - Sanz , from Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada , said in astatement .
This piece of work is part of the guarantee Time Observations Program 1271 whose principal research worker is Santos - Sanz . JWST also take care at Chariklo immediately and was able to observe the presence of water supply ice in a crystalline state . This suggests that the asteroid might be experiencing small hit , that either expose mysterious pristine textile or gun trigger crystal processes . eminent - energy particles tend to mess with crystalline Methedrine , so check it tells us that something must be going on to either form it again or uncover it .
JWST will go on to observe the object , and astronomers desire they will be capable to more distinctly distinguish between the contributions of the asteroid and the rings to the composing analytic thinking in the future .
