NASA has released a new batch of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, this time, featuring Jupiter and some of its moons.
The images of our solar system’s biggest planet were taken using the telescope’s near infrared camera during instrument tests before official operations began on July 12. They come on the heels of NASA’s first batch of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, a set of deep field photos showing distant galaxies.
“Combined with the deep field images released the other day, these images of Jupiter demonstrate the full grasp of what Webb can observe, from the faintest, most distant observable galaxies to planets in our own cosmic backyard,” said Bryan Holler, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a media release issued Thursday.
The images show hot spots on Jupiter — like the Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow the Earth — in bright yellow. Cooler spots appear in brown. Similarly, images taken with the telescope’s 2.12 micron filter show moons like Thebe and Metis in yellow, while Europa, which is encrusted in ice, appears dark in the centre. Europa’s shadow is also visible on the surface of Jupiter, to the left of the Great Red Spot.
“I couldn’t believe that we saw everything so clearly, and how bright they were,” said Stefanie Milam, Webb’s deputy project scientist for planetary science, in a media release on Thursday. “It’s really exciting to think of the capability and opportunity that we have for observing 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 like the Cassini and Juno spacecraft have taken detailed photos of Jupiter, these latest images are exciting because they demonstrate Webb’s ability to observe heat signatures not visible to the naked eye.
“Because we're looking at infrared and we're seeing heat patterns, we're able to see things in action that sometimes wouldn't be quite as visible,” Groff said. “So studying something like the Great Red Spot or studying something like any sort of active process using infrared gives us a chance to look at energy dynamics that are involved in a different way than you wouldn’t with just visible observation."
For example, NASA scientists will attempt to see if they can capture images of plumes of material spewing out of moons like Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus, as well as the signatures of plumes depositing material on the surface of Europa, the agency said in a media release.
NASA’s scientists are particularly interested in learning more about Europa, due to the possibility that it may be harbouring life in a vast liquid ocean beneath its icy crust.
Groff said anything scientists are able to learn about Europa and other objects in our solar system using Webb could further 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 for potential life… And also tell us more about how these things are distributed throughout the universe,” he said.
“If we assume our solar system isn't unique, taking a look at how our solar system functions — and the chemical composition of it — gives us a sense of what the rest of the universe might be like as well."
