Elain Brown Science 08.23.2022 03:Aug AM EDT

NASA Releases New James Webb Space Telescope Photos of Jupiter

NASA released new photos of what Jupiter looks like.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope used its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) to capture a magnificent image of Jupiter that clearly details its auroras from the northern and southern poles of the planet.

The two images were captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) located at the observatory. This camera is equipped with three distinct infrared filters that highlight various aspects of the planet.

The infrared light spectrum has been mapped onto the visible light spectrum because infrared light is not visible to the human eye.

In most cases, longer wavelengths are shown as having a redder appearance, whereas shorter wavelengths are depicted as having a more blue appearance.

This same process also explains why Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot, also known as a storm system that has been described as being "so big it could swallow Earth," would look white in the photo.

NASA's Images of Jupiter

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has publicly released the captured new images of Jupiter.

NASA reports that the images published show the Auroras extending to high altitudes above both the northern and southern poles of Jupiter in the standalone view of Jupiter that was generated from a composite of several images from the Webb telescope.

A filter was used in the image that allowed to map redder colors, and highlights light reflected from lower clouds and upper hazes from the photo. The filter also enabled the auroras to shine.

Furthemore, using a different filter that is mapped to yellows and greens, the haze that is swirling around the poles can also be seen. The third filter, which is mapped to blues, reveals the light that is reflected from a more substantial primary cloud.

NASA Captures Objects Surrounding Jupiter

Webb's new images of Jupiter made its Great Red spot, along with other clouds, white looking views as they reflect a lot of sunlight.

According to Digital Trends, the Great Red Spot is a lengthy enormous storm system that has existed on the planet Jupiter for a very long time. This region on the planet is also well-known for being so large that it could easily consume the Earth.

Heidi Hammel, vice president for science at AURA stated "The brightness here indicates high altitude - so the Great Red Spot has high-altitude hazes, as does the equatorial region. "

Scientists assume that the numerous vibrant white spots and streaks are most likely the cloud tops of condensed convective storms located at very high altitudes.

In addition, Webb is able to see Jupiter's faint rings, which are one million times dimmer than the planet itself, as well as two minuscule moons that go by the names Adrastea and Amalthea.

Capturing Images

The data extracted from James Webb Space Telescope does not arrive on Earth the way that the space agency publishes them to be.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which serves as the mission and science operations center for Webb, receives this information in its raw data format.

After converting the raw data into calibrated files suitable for scientific study, STScI sends them on to the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes so that they can be made available to the public.

During the course of their research, scientists first gather information like this and then translate it into images like these. Even though a staff at STScI is responsible for the formal processing of Webb images prior to their official release, amateur astronomers, also known as citizen scientists, frequently access the public data archive in order to retrieve and process images as well.

Just like these newly published photos of Jupiter, the scientists collaborated with citizen scientist Judy Schmidt to translate the data from Webb into images.