These new images were a test to answer an important question for James Webb researchers, about the maximum speed that a celestial body can move and that James Webb can still monitor and take pictures of.
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| A clear image of Jupiter from James Webb showing the planet and its moon Europa (NASA) |
After the huge global uproar that the James Webb telescope recently caused with its new images, NASA announced on July 14 another set of images from the telescope, which were in the Mikulski Archive of Space Telescopes of the American Space Telescope Science Institute, and these images were taken in The period of testing scientific instruments before scientific operations officially begin.
Jupiter in a different color
In one of the new images, Jupiter appears in the same usual form that we know in science books, but in completely different colors, and this is because the image was taken by the James Web camera called "NIRCam", which takes pictures in the short range of infrared radiation.
Infrared radiation is used to accurately study Jupiter's atmosphere, as it penetrates its layers, giving scientists a three-dimensional depth.
It appears in the picture that Jupiter is divided into layers, one on top of the other. These layers are nothing but the movement of huge storms that revolve on Jupiter relentlessly, some dark and some light in color, each spinning in opposite directions to the other, creating the harsh climate of the planet.
But Jupiter's most distinctive feature is the Great Red spot, which is the largest giant storm in the solar system, so much so that you can see it in an average telescope, and it appears in the images in white, but is in fact red.
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| Jupiter and its moons Europa, Thebes, and Metis seen by NASA's Nyrkam instrument. |
Jupiter's rings
According to a press release from NASA, planetary scientists were particularly excited about these images, as they are evidence that Webb can observe moons and rings near the bright planets of the solar system, such as Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
In the new images, it seems clear that Jupiter has rings like Saturn, but it is smaller - and this was known before - and for the first time it appears in the images with this clarity.
Scientists will use the James Webb telescope to explore the atmospheres of moons such as Europa, which orbits Jupiter, and Enceladus, which orbits Saturn, which will pave the way for studying the presence of life in those very distant regions of the solar system.
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| In the new images, Jupiter's rings are clearly visible (NASA) |
Overall, these new images were a test to answer an important question for James Webb researchers about the maximum speed at which a celestial body (an asteroid, for example) can still be observed and photographed by James Webb.
For this purpose, the researchers used an asteroid called "6481 Tenzing", located in the asteroid belt, to start the "speed limit" tests.
Webb was designed to track objects moving at the speed of Mars, which has a minimum speed of 30 milli arcseconds per second of time. Test results have shown that Webb is able to pick up objects at twice that speed.
Source: NASA
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