Posted on 07/13/2022 9:00:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
(NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
This morning we were in a frenzy over a sneaky side-glimpse of a galaxy revealed in the first full-color James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images.
But if you thought that was wild, then wait for this: it turns out JWST has also dropped some stealthy images of Jupiter! And they're ridiculously beautiful.
These images, taken while JWST was being tested, were provided in the JWST commissioning report.
umm who else saw this in the commissioning report document?? πππππ€―π€―π€―π€―π€―https://t.co/AzwQCf6rat pic.twitter.com/nq13fxdsAM
β Erin M. May, PhD (@_astronomay) July 12, 2022 The images, which you can see in greater detail below, show Jupiter and its rings as well as three of its moons: Europa, Thebe, and Metis.
You can also see the shadow of Europa in the image on the left, just next to the planet's tumultuous and infamous Great Red Spot.
Screen Shot 2022 07 13 at 11.58.42 am (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
Above: The image on the left was taken by the JWST Near-Infrared Camera using a filter that highlights short wavelengths. The image on the right is taken with a filter that highlights long wavelengths of light.
The images were taken by JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and they use two different filters which highlight separate wavelengths of light.
Part of the test was ensuring that JWST could track fast-moving objects through the Solar System.
For this, JWST photographed nine targets, and Jupiter was the slowest moving β but, as you can see, one of the most stunning.
The test also showed that it's possible to use JWST to photograph details like moons and rings around a planet as bright as Jupiter.
"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 commissioning report explains.
"These observations verified the expectation that guide star acquisition works successfully as long as Jupiter is at least 140" away from the FGS, consistent with pre-flight modeling."
This is all good news as it means JWST will be useful at tracking things like near-Earth objects and comets.
Overall, the commissioning report shows that JWST is performing even better than expected.
"The key outcome of six months of commissioning is this: JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. JWST was envisioned 'to enable fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies, stars, and planetary systems'," the authors write in the report.
"We now know with certainty that it will."
We're looking forward to more photo drops in the coming weeks and months!
Part of the test was ensuring that JWST could track fast-moving objects through the Solar System.
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Like extra-solar ‘objects’ ...
All you base are belong to us?
The Webb project seems to be surrounded by a lot of carnival barkers....
Potty talk! Very clever.
The Hubble pictures of Saturn are indeed spectacular.
For those who don’t know:
Hubble is a primarily visible light instrument. It is sensitive from 100nm to 1800 nm (.1 to 1.8 micron), or ultraviolet through near infrared. Webb is an infrared instrument. It’s sensitivity is from .6 micron through 28 micron, or orange through very far infrared. JWST covers a vastly wider, and in some ways scientifically more interesting spectral range than Hubble.
They looked at the pictures from Jupiter, and immediately called the cops!
So where’s Carl Sagan?
Yes, I saw that!..........................
Physically impossible. The closet star is 4 LY away. No human will ever get near it.
You did not see better pictures of deep space from the JUNO spacecraft.
Juno is orbiting Jupiter, and was built for the sole purpose of studying Jupiter. Webb is orbiting Earth (sort of) and was built for studying deep space. The Jupiter and other planetary pictures are bonus, and captured largely for engineering purposes.
i want them to stare at Uranus..
And do what? Look for Klingons?
Looks like a black hole to me.
But if you thought that was wild, then wait for this: it turns out JWST has also dropped some stealthy images of Jupiter! And they’re ridiculously beautiful.
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Is every article being written by a millennial who’s affecting 1980’s Valley Girl speak?
You chal see.
Oh good I wondered what happened to that image. No one ever mentioned it after it first appeared or later that there where two, not one, extra-solar objects at the same time.
Then there was the ‘comet’ that appeared to little fanfare then disappeared from the news.
Three objects in a short period is not a coincidence - perhaps these ‘objects regularly pass through our system, but only now we have the tech to locate and photograph them.
The question could be: how many enter but do not leave?
That’s why we need to invent the warp drive that’s 100 times faster than the speed of light. ;)
We.. the same people who write those ad headlines? What's Webb's "one weird trick"?
Get a life.
What is a “stealthily image”?
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