NASA's Webb gets 'photobombed' by a Colosseum-sized asteroid

An asteroid, previously unknown and roughly the size of Rome's Colosseum has been detected by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. It is the smallest cosmic object that Webb has discovered to date.

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NASA took to its social media handles to inform about the discovery saying the asteroid had photobombed the Webb telescope.

The asteroid is between 300 to 650 feet (100 to 200 meters) in length and was discovered by European astronomers using Webb's Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI). It was Webb's insane capability that a roughly 100-metre object at a distance of more than 100 million kilometres could be detected.

“This is a fantastic result which highlights the capabilities of MIRI to serendipitously detect a previously undetectable size of asteroid in the main belt. Repeats of these observations are in the process of being scheduled, and we are fully expecting new asteroid interlopers in those images," said Thomas Müller, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.

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The scientists informed that the main objective of the mission could not be achieved. However, after analysing the data, they "serendipitously detected" the new asteroid.

“Our results show that even ‘failed’ Webb observations can be scientifically useful, if you have the right mindset and a little bit of luck," added Müller.

Read more: Asteroid alert: A 'stadium sized' space rock is hurtling towards Earth

The asteroid has been found in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The belt was first discovered by astronomers in 1998.

The premier space agency added that more observations were required to better characterize the asteroid's nature and properties.

Read more: An asteroid bigger than Statue of Unity to hurtle dangerously close to Earth

To this date, astronomers across the world have managed to determine the exact location of over 1.1 million asteroids. However, akin to the new asteroid discovered by Webb, many remain unknown. Webb's infrared telescope, the most powerful in the world could help find the location of the remaining.

(With inputs from agencies)

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