‘Pretty incredible’: James Webb Telescope captures aurora over Jupiter
Cape Canaveral. With the new James Webb telescope, scientists have never-before-seen footage of Jupiter shot. The images released on Monday include aurora over the planet’s north and south poles and swirls of polar haze.
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The so-called Red Spot, a long-lived cyclone larger than Earth in diameter, is brilliantly visible, as are smaller storms. One particularly spectacular shot shows the faint rings of Jupiter, as well as the planet’s two small moons once morest an array of glittering galaxies.
We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all pretty incredible.
Astronomer Imke de Pater from the University of Berkeley
“We have never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all pretty incredible,” said University of Berkeley astronomer Imke de Pater. “To be honest, we really didn’t expect it to be that good.” According to the American-French research team, the infrared images taken back in July were artificially colored blue, white, green, yellow and orange to highlight the special features.
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The James Webb telescope, built by the USA, Canada and the European Space Agency ESA, was launched from French Guiana at the end of last year and deployed in a complex process on the way to its destination. Since the summer, it has been peering into the depths of space 1.6 million kilometers from Earth. Scientists hope to use the device, which costs ten billion dollars, to look back to the formation of the first stars and galaxies 13.7 billion years ago and gain new insights into the formation of the universe.
RND/AP
