For the first time, astronomers have mapped the largest asteroid in the Solar System universe from one that is as large as Earth and one that makes the Sun tiny. This is a list of the 42 largest asteroids in the Solar System.
Astronomers use a ground telescope, the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (ECO VLT) in Chile, South America.
The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, was then examined, and a list of the 42 largest asteroids was found with sharper images than ever before.
As a result, Ceres is the largest asteroid so far found in the Solar System. Ceres which has a diameter of 950 km was first discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi.
At that time, the space object was classified as a planet, now it is an asteroid. NASA's Dawn spacecraft managed to take high-resolution photos in 2015.
While the smallest of the list of 42 largest asteroids is Urania whose name is taken from Greek mythology, one of the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosine. Urania is known to be 111 km long and 89 km wide.
"In short, the extraordinary variation in their composition can only be understood if these objects originate from regions within the Solar System," said Josef Hanu of Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, one of the study's authors. 17/10/2021).
The most detailed list of the 42 largest asteroids observed in the Solar System.
Previously, only a few asteroids could be seen in detail. This is the factor of the spacecraft that has 'visited' the space object.
"Only three asteroids in the great main belt, Ceres, Vesta and Lutetia have been imaged with the highest level of detail so far, as they have been visited by NASA's Dawn and Rosetta space missions," said Pierre Vernazza, of the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille. in France, who led the asteroid study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
This detailed image of the 42 largest asteroids in the Solar System is a big leap in the field of astronomy, especially the observation of asteroids.
This finding is expected to answer mysterious questions to date, about the beginning of life, the universe, and others.
