NEOMIR is an asteroid-spotter that will be in orbit, located at the first Lagrange point between the sun and the Earth. This special orbit, which is the same one used by the James Webb Space Telescope, would allow the telescope to sit in a location with a view of asteroids coming towards Earth from the direction of the sun.
The telescope will also look in the infrared instead of the visible light spectrum, so it will be able to see asteroids even if they are dark. Some are made of lighter material, thus more reflective, but others are darker and harder to detect in the visible light spectrum. By looking in the infrared, the telescope can see the asteroids’ heat signatures no matter what color they are.
Looking in the infrared also means that the telescope will be able to see the heat coming from the asteroids without them being hidden by the bright light of the sun. By placing the telescope in space instead of on the ground, it will be able to see these infrared signals more clearly as Earth’s atmosphere won’t in the way.
“Being situated outside of Earth’s distorting atmosphere and with a telescope observing in infrared light, NEOMIR will monitor a close ring around the Sun that is impossible to observe from the ground. The mission will detect asteroids passing between Earth and the Sun – any that pose a threat and that we cannot currently see will have to pass through this ring,” the European Space Agency explains.
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