JWST sighting of decametre main-belt asteroids and view on meteorite sources

Artem Y. Burdanov, Julien Wit (), Miroslav Brož, Thomas G. Müller, Tobias Hoffmann, Marin Ferrais, Marco Micheli, Emmanuel Jehin, Daniel Parrott, Samantha N. Hasler, Richard P. Binzel, Elsa Ducrot, Laura Kreidberg, Michaël Gillon, Thomas P. Greene, Will M. Grundy, Theodore Kareta, Pierre-Olivier Lagage, Nicholas Moskovitz, Audrey Thirouin, Cristina A. Thomas and Sebastian Zieba
Additional contact information
Artem Y. Burdanov: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Julien Wit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Miroslav Brož: Astronomical Institute of Charles University
Thomas G. Müller: Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik
Tobias Hoffmann: Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
Marin Ferrais: University of Central Florida
Marco Micheli: ESA PDO NEO Coordination Centre
Emmanuel Jehin: University of Liège
Daniel Parrott: Parrott’s Studio, LLC
Samantha N. Hasler: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Richard P. Binzel: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elsa Ducrot: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM
Laura Kreidberg: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
Michaël Gillon: University of Liège
Thomas P. Greene: NASA Ames Research Center
Will M. Grundy: Lowell Observatory
Theodore Kareta: Lowell Observatory
Pierre-Olivier Lagage: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM
Nicholas Moskovitz: Lowell Observatory
Audrey Thirouin: Lowell Observatory
Cristina A. Thomas: Northern Arizona University
Sebastian Zieba: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie

Nature, 2025, vol. 638, issue 8049, 74-78

Abstract: Abstract Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defence efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth1, including the more frequent2 megaton explosions from decametre impactors3–6. Although large asteroids (≥100 kilometres) have remained in the main belt since their formation7, small asteroids are commonly transported to the near-Earth object (NEO) population8,9. 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 models10–14. Here we report 138 detections of some of the smallest asteroids (≳10 metres) ever observed in the main belt, which were enabled by JWST’s infrared capabilities covering the emission peaks of the asteroids15 and synthetic tracking techniques16–18. 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 100 metres (debiased cumulative slopes of q = −2.66 ± 0.60 and −0.97 ± 0.14 for diameters smaller and larger than roughly 100 metres, 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 families19 and the source regions of meteorites13,14 ‘in situ’.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08480-z

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