James Webb Telescope: Amazing images of Jupiter provided by NASA
The James Webb Space Telescope has been able to observe Jupiter for the first time. It shows us more impressive images than ever before.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is once again sending us stunning images. The astronomical instrument was sent into space at the beginning of the year and over the past two months has been providing us with great snapshots of our universe.
This time Jupiter was the target of the JWST. Pictures of the largest planet in the solar system were taken last July and broadcast on Monday, August 22, and they are exceptional images and unprecedented resolution. We see auroras, a luminous phenomenon generated by solar storms. They are visible at both poles of the planet.
Several filters were used
The telescope used three infrared filters to provide us with its images. Red tones show twilight. The shades of yellow and green, also at the level of the poles, allow you to identify “swirling” fog. In blue, light reflected from the main cloud is highlighted.
1. Make way for the king of the solar system! \ ud83d \ udc51
New web images of Jupiter highlight the planet’s features, including the turbulent Great Red Spot (shown in white), in stunning detail. These images have been processed by citizen scientist Judy Schmidt: https://t.co/gwxZOitCE3 pic.twitter.com/saz0u61kJG
—NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) August 22 2022
“The Great Red Spot, a famous storm so large that it can swallow the Earth, appears white in these views, like other clouds, because it reflects so much sunlight,” NASA says.
Data turned into images
As a reminder, the James Webb images were not received by NASA. The device sends “information about the brightness of light to web detectors,” the US space agency explains. Then the astronomers process the data to turn it into images.
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