"James Webb" studied the shadows from the icy ring of the asteroid Chariklo

Researchers used the James Webb Telescope to capture the shadows cast by starlight

thin rings of Chariklo.Analysis of the radiation showed that they consist of small particles of water ice mixed with dark rocks. Researchers believe that the rings are a consequence of a collision with an icy body in the past.

(10199) Chariklo is one of the largest centaurs,asteroids located between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. In 2014, this small icy body was found to have two of its own rings - smaller copies of the rings of gas giants. Previously, it was thought that they could only form around large planets like Jupiter and Neptune.

In the new work, planetary scientists usedsensitive Webb optics to study the structure and composition of these rings. Due to their vast distance and tiny size, the telescope cannot observe them directly. Therefore, planetary scientists used stellar occultation - the moment when an asteroid passes through the disk of a star, similar to a solar eclipse.

Eclipse of a star by the rings of Chariklo. The graph shows the change in the amount of light at those moments when the rings overlap the star for Webb. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

On a video based on datatelescope, you can see how a luminous white object “pulsates” in the center of the black background - a distant star. Another glowing white object, Chariklo, is approaching the center and passing across the disk of the star. Analyzing the light curves at the moment of such coverage, planetary scientists determine the thickness of the rings, the sizes and colors of the particles that make it up. Analysis of the shadows from the rings showed that their width is about 6-7 and 3-4 km, and between them there is a space of 9 km.

Covering the rings of an asteroid star. Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, and Nicolás Morales (IAA/CSIC).

The researchers also used dataspectrograph to analyze the sunlight that reflects off the rings. This spectrum shows clear evidence of the existence of crystalline water ice, which has only been hinted at in past ground-based observations.

Analysis of the Spectral Data of the Double Ringed Asteroid Chariklo Obtained by the Webb Near-Infrared Spectrograph. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

Planetologists believe that further observations onAs the location of the asteroid and the angle at which sunlight strikes change, learn even more about the composition of the particles surrounding the icy body of Chariklo.

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On the cover: an artistic illustration of the ringed asteroid Chariklo. Image: NASA, JPL