The NASA James Webb Space Telescope secretly released two unexpected new images of Jupiter.
Jupiter, a gas giant, was a sneaky bonus target that didn't quite make it to the big leagues when scientists and the general public were gushing over the spectacular photographs revealed by the JWST over the past 48 hours.
An infrared image of the planet and some of its moons were discovered in a commissioning document that describes the JWST's commissioning procedures and the next-generation telescope's scientific capabilities. The Space Telescope Science Institute has the photo accessible, but we have the photographs right below.
Y'all - I promised and now I deliver. In today's report "Characterization of JWST Science Performance from Commissioning" (https://t.co/cR4CI1Jn4f), Figure 1 is engineering data featuring Jupiter, including some moons and a ring! It'll only get better from here, so buckle up! pic.twitter.com/e20TsxhXaW
— Dr Heidi B. Hammel (@hbhammel) July 12, 2022
NASA James Webb Space Telescope Shares Jupiter's Photo
The planet, its ring, and three of its moons are all visible in the images acquired when the scientific equipment on board the James Webb Space Telescope was being tested. In the left picture, just to the left of the planet's Great Red Spot, lies the shadow of Jupiter's moon Europa.
The images were captured using NIRCam, the telescope's near-infrared camera, using two distinct filters focused on various light wavelengths. They were made public as a part of the JWST commissioning report, which outlines all of the testing the scientific equipment underwent before being able to start collecting data seriously, New Scientist reported.
"Observing a bright planet and its satellites and rings was expected to be challenging, due to scattered light that may affect the science instrument employed, but also the fine guidance sensor must track guide stars near the bright planet," the authors wrote per The Independent.
Photographing Jupiter was a part of a test to see if the observatory could follow things traveling quickly across the solar system. Of the nine moving targets used in these experiments, Jupiter was the slowest but also the largest and most magnificent. Jupiter demonstrated that objects can still be tracked even when a brilliant planet is reflecting light into the cameras. The tests showed that JWST is far more adept at monitoring moving objects than was anticipated. It will be especially helpful for researching comets, near-Earth asteroids, and even interstellar objects.
Additionally, it implies that the telescope will be helpful for research within our own solar system, such as seeing comets and near-Earth objects as they pass by our planetary neighborhood. To test that capacity, engineers used photos of nine different objects, with Jupiter being the one with the slowest motion.
A woman stands near a model of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on April 2, 2015.
JWST's Mission
NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency forged the cooperation of scientists and engineers, Sky News reported. They worked together for 20 years to finish the $10 billion telescope.
The Webb was launched on Christmas Day 2021 and arrived at its final location in solar orbit almost one million kilometers from Earth a month later.
Once there, it took months for the telescope to unfold every part of it, including a tennis court-sized solar cover, orient its mirrors, and calibrate its equipment.
The light from the initial stars and galaxies has been "stretched" from shorter visible wavelengths to longer infrared ones because the cosmos has been expanding for 13.8 billion years.
It enables Webb to observe the universe at hitherto unseen levels of detail.
The images are just a few of the millions of shots the new telescope will capture throughout its 20-year existence.
It took weeks to generate every full-color, high-resolution image revealed on Tuesday.
Worldwide watch parties for the movie's premiere were held in the US, Canada, Israel, the UK, and Europe.
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