The James Webb Space Telescope has taken the most recent, detailed images of Jupiter. The never-before-seen images were captured using the telescope's near-infrared camera. The camera has three infrared filters that show details of the planet that the human eye cannot see.
Collection of Jupiter Images Through James Webb Space Telescope
The first image made public was a collection of pictures taken from Jupiter against the backdrop of space darkness. The red and orange glow at the planet's top and bottom depict auroras at the northern and southern poles, respectively. Green and yellow hazes swirling around are also visible. The image was posted on NASA's Twitter account.
Giant news from a giant planet!@NASAWebb captured a new view of Jupiter in infrared light, uncovering clues to the planet’s inner life. Two moons, rings, and distant galaxies are visible. Get the details: https://t.co/6WKbAQY78z pic.twitter.com/9uaACCPGyU
— NASA (@NASA) August 22, 2022
According to NASA, the rest of the massive planet has blue hues to show light reflected from a deeper main cloud. The second image is a wide-angle view of Jupiter, and it shows rings around Jupiter that are a million times fainter than the planet.
Amalthea and Adrastea, two of the planet's at least 79 moons, are depicted as tiny specs in the image. Other galaxies are most likely the fuzzy spots in the distance.
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter Images
Jupiter's infamous Great Red Spot is also visible. The storm, which has a diameter larger than Earth and winds of over 400 miles per hour, is white because the clouds reflect a significant amount of sunlight.
According to NPR, Jupiter's Great Red Spot is well-known for being the largest planet in our solar system and the location of the largest storm. The Great Red Spot is a massive vortex swirling for centuries. It is a famous storm that appears white in the images, like other clouds, because they reflect a lot of sunlight.
According to Heidi Hammel, Webb interdisciplinary scientist for solar system observations and vice president for science at AURA, brightness indicates high altitude, so the Great Red Spot and the equatorial region have high-altitude hazes. She added that the numerous bright white spots and streaks are most likely the very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms.
Dark ribbons north of the equatorial region, on the other hand, have little cloud cover.
Jupiter as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope
Jupiter Images from James Webb Space Telescope Surprise Scientists
According to NASA, the images will provide scientists with more information about Jupiter's inner life. The planet is larger than all of the other planets in our solar system combined and has extreme temperatures of less than -100 degrees Fahrenheit.
"We hadn't really expected it to be this good, to be honest," said Imke de Pater, professor emerita of the University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead the planet's observations at NASA.
According to the professor, it is truly remarkable that we can see details of Jupiter, its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in a single image.
The James Webb Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam)
The two images of Jupiter were captured by the observatory's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which has three specialized infrared filters that highlight the planet's details. Since infrared light is invisible to the human eye, it has been mapped onto the visible spectrum.
In general, the longest wavelengths appear redder, while the shortest wavelengths appear bluer. The Webb data was translated into images by scientists collaborating with citizen scientist Judy Schmidt.
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