Tech UPTechnologyJames Webb shows spectacular images of Jupiter

James Webb shows spectacular images of Jupiter

The first full color images being shown by the James Webb Space Telescope are a sight to behold. For now, NASA has released images of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, the planet WASP-96 b, the South Ring planetary nebula, Stephan’s Quintet and the Carina nebula. Jupiter has been the next to be photographed and the result is exciting.

The images, which were taken during the James Webb tests, show the gas giant in all its splendor, with its rings and three moons : Europa, Teba and Metis. The photo on the left was taken by the James Webb’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) using a filter that emphasizes short wavelengths. It shows the shadow of Europe and the Great Red Spot. The image on the right was taken using a filter that highlights long wavelengths.

The test was intended to ensure that the telescope was capable of tracking fast-moving objects in the Solar System . To do this, the James Webb photographed nine targets. Jupiter was the slowest moving.

The space telescope has also shown that it is good for photographing details such as moons and rings around a planet as bright as Jupiter. “Observing a bright planet and its satellites and rings was expected to be challenging, due to scattered light that can affect the science instrument used, but also because the fine guidance sensor must track guide stars close to the planet. brilliant,” explains the commissioning report. “These observations verified the expectation that guide star acquisition works successfully as long as Jupiter is at least 140″ away from the FGS, consistent with preflight modeling.”

All of this is nothing but good news as it indicates that the telescope could track near-Earth objects and comets . The James Webb commissioning report is generally performing better than expected.

“The key result of the six-month start-up is this: JWST is fully capable of making the discoveries for which it was built. The JWST was conceived to “enable fundamental advances in our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, stars and planetary systems,” the authors write in the report. “We now know for sure that it will.”

The James Webb has been considered a ‘time machine’ that could help us unlock the secrets of the universe. Thanks to it we will be able to observe the first galaxies that were born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, as well as the sources of stars, exoplanets and even the moons and planets of the Solar System.

James Webb was launched from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on December 25 last year. The telescope will explore the universe in the infrared spectrum, allowing it to peer through clouds of gas and dust where stars are born.

Weeks of stunning images of the universe await us.

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