The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has delivered two surprisingly accurate new images of Jupiter, showing its giant storms and extreme winds and offering scientists additional clues regarding the life within that planet.
The US space agency (NASA) celebrated this Monday the quality of the details, which according to Imke de Pater, professor emeritus at the University of California and co-director of the observations, they were not expected to be “so good”.
The released photographs allow us to see that the auroras extend at high altitudes over the north and south poles of Jupiter. These images come from the near-infrared camera (NIRcam), which has three infrared filters.
As infrared light is invisible to the human eyethat light has been mapped to the visible spectrum. Longer wavelengths tend to appear redder and shorter wavelengths bluer.
In these snapshots, the “Great Red Spot” is clearly seen, a sand storm that according to NASA is so big “that might swallow the Earth”, and that this time appears white because it reflects a lot of sunlight.
Heidi Hammel, a scientist at Webb, points out in the statement that the brightness is a sign of high altitude, so this large spot “has high-altitude haze.”
In the images you can also see the rings of Jupiter, “a million times dimmer than the planet”, according to the note, and two tiny moons named Amalthea and Adrasthea.
The researchers have already begun to analyze the data received, which does not arrive on Earth in an orderly package, but must be translated into images.
These last two were processed by Judy Schmidt, who collaborated with Ricardo Hueso in the one showing the planet’s small satellites, whose research at the University of the Basque Country deals with the study of planetary atmospheres.
The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint NASA mission with the European (ESA) and the Canadian (CSA) and It was released in December of last year.
It is the largest ever sent into space, offers a never-before-seen view of the universe at near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, and will make it possible to study a wide variety of celestial objects, from neighboring galaxies to the most distant reaches of the universe.
The new images of Jupiter obtained by @NASAWebb features of the planet stand out, including its turbulent Great Red Spot (shown in white here). These images were processed by citizen scientist Judy Schmidt: https://t.co/vSqRtj3ajy pic.twitter.com/ULAoS295kB
— NASA in Spanish (@NASA_es) August 22, 2022
