The images of our solar system’s largest planet were taken using the telescope’s near-infrared camera during instrument tests before official operations began on July 12. They come after NASA’s first batch of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, a set of deep-field pictures showing distant galaxies.
“Combined with the deep-field images released the other day, these images of Jupiter demonstrate a complete understanding of what Webb can observe, from the faintest, most distant observable galaxies to planets in our own cosmic backyard,” he said. Bryan Holler, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a press release issued Thursday.
The images show hot spots on Jupiter – such as the Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to engulf Earth – in bright yellow. Cooler spots appear in brown. Similarly, images taken with the telescope’s 2.12-micron filter show moons such as Thebes and Metis in yellow, while Europa, which is covered in ice, appears dark in the center. Europa’s shadow is also visible on the surface of Jupiter, to the left of the Great Red Spot.
“I couldn’t believe we saw it all so clearly and how bright it was,” Stefanie Milam, Webb program associate scientist for planetary science, said in a media release Thursday. “It’s really exciting to think about the ability and the opportunity we have to observe these kinds of objects in our solar system.”
Phil Groff, is executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He said that while other satellites and probes such as Cassini and the Juno spacecraft have taken detailed pictures of Jupiter, these latest images are exciting because they demonstrate Webb’s ability to observe thermal signatures not visible to the naked eye.
“Because we’re looking in infrared and seeing heat patterns, we’re able to see things in action that sometimes wouldn’t be as visible,” Groff said. “So studying something like the Great Red Spot, or studying something like any kind of active process using infrared, gives us an opportunity to see the dynamics of the energy involved in a different way than you would with just visible observation. ».
Left: Jupiter, its center, and its moons Europa, Thebes, and Metis seen through the James Webb Space Telescope’s 2.12 micron NIRCam filter. Right: Jupiter and Europa, Thebes and Metis seen through NIRCam’s 3.23 micron filter. (Source: NASA, ESA, CSA, B. Holler and J. Stansberry)
For example, NASA scientists will try to see if they can capture images of plumes of material ejected from moons such as Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus, as well as the signatures of the plumes that deposit material on Europa’s surface, the agency said in media. release.
NASA scientists are particularly interested in learning more about Europa because of the possibility that it may harbor life in a vast liquid ocean beneath its icy crust.
Groff said that anything scientists are able to learn about Europa and other objects in our solar system using Webb could enhance our understanding of the rest of the universe.
“It will give us a better sense of where there are large concentrations of water and other important chemicals in our system that might be signs of possible life … And it will also tell us more about how these things are distributed throughout the universe,” he said. .
“Assuming that our solar system is not unique, taking a look at how our solar system works—and its chemical composition—gives us a sense of what the rest of the universe might be like.”
