NASA released Webb’s first pictures taken of the solar system on Thursday, including Jupiter and the zip-lining asteroids. Engineers took these shots during earlier tests of the observatory’s instruments. The images prove that Webb can see unprecedented detail, even in extremely bright and moving things near Earth, while also picking up fainter objects. This success is due to the telescope’s guidance sensors, which allow Webb to point, hold and track precisely. SEE ALSO: James Webb Telescope’s first stunning cosmic images are here Tweet may have been deleted (opens in new tab) NASA officials considered including the nearby targets in the first batch of stunning deep-space images, but decided to take the more conservative approach, Klaus Pontoppidan, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said during a news conference Tuesday. “We didn’t want to rely on observations of moving targets to work without getting too complicated,” he said. “As it actually turns out, we probably could have.” The additional images came just two days after NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency presented the first color science images from Webb. The event marked the start of science work on the $10 billion telescope. Astronomers expect Webb to unleash a golden age in our understanding of the universe. Although the images of Jupiter look more like sepia-toned Wild West photos than the brilliant jewel tones we saw Tuesday, that’s only because they weren’t processed the same way, according to NASA. Instead, these were built to emphasize specific features. Like, Oh, hello, Europe! Nice to see you there. The James Webb Space Telescope photographs Jupiter and its moons Europa, Thebes, and Metis. Credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / B. Holler and J. Stansberry (STScI) The James Webb Space Telescope spies Europa’s shadow next to the Great Red Spot. Credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / B. Holler and J. Stansberry (STScI) A view from the telescope’s near-infrared camera shows clear bands around the gas giant planet, as well as the Great Red Spot, a persistent storm large enough to “swallow Earth,” according to NASA. To the left of the point is the shadow of Europa, one of Jupiter’s orbiting moons. Other moons in these images include Thebes and Metis. All these details were captured with exposures of about one minute, the US space agency said. Scientists are relieved Webb passed the vision test. This means it will take pictures of the moons and rings of not only Jupiter, but also Saturn and Mars. Astronomers are also eager to investigate the vapors ejected from Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, places that could host oceans. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in new tab) But the team also wanted to know how fast an object could be moving and still be observed by the telescope, which is critical for astronomers who want to study flying space rocks. To test Webb’s limits, engineers tried to track an asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, 6481 Tenzing. They were not disappointed. “We had a speed limit of 30 [milliarcseconds per second], which is as fast as Mars can go,” said Jane Rigby, project scientist at NASA. “We actually got over it. We were able to get a speed limit of 67 so we could track faster targets than we had promised.”
