The images of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, have always been the same. An orange-yellow sphere is how most of us remember the gas giant from our school textbooks and encyclopedias. However, new images of Jupiter captured by NASA’s brand new James Webb telescope show the planet in a very different avatar.
A greenish blue view of Jupiter can be seen in the latest infrared images of the planet released by NASA. The images show the planet complete with all its distinctive elements, including giant storms, auroras and regions of extreme temperatures. See the images below.
Giant news from a giant planet!@NASAWebb captured a new view of Jupiter in infrared light, uncovering clues to the planet’s inner life. Two moons, rings and distant galaxies are visible. Get the details: https://t.co/6WKbAQY78z pic.twitter.com/9uaACCPGyU
– NASA (@NASA) August 22, 2022
“We didn’t really expect it to be that good, to be honest,” planetary astronomer Imke de Pater said in a press release. De Pater, professor emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley led the observations of Jupiter with Paris Observatory professor Thierry Fouchet, who added that “it is truly extraordinary that we can see details about Jupiter along with its rings, small satellites. and even galaxies in one image ”.
All the distinctive features of Jupiter have been mapped. (Image Source: NASA)
A second image released by NASA also neatly marks the various features of Jupiter that can be seen in the images, including the planet’s rings and moons. “This image summarizes the science of our Jupiter system program, which studies the dynamics and chemistry of Jupiter itself, its rings and its satellite system,” Fouchet said.
Processing of the latest photographs of Jupiter
As NASA mentions in its blog post, the James Webb telescope images don’t come in the form we see them on the web. Instead, what the scientists get is a collection of information captured by the light detectors on the James Webb Space Telescope. At the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), these bits of information are then processed and compiled to create the images we see.
The latest images of Jupiter you just witnessed were processed by Judy Schmidt of Modesto California, a longtime image processor in the citizen science community.
Schmidt also collaborated with Spanish co-investigator Ricardo Hueso, who studies planetary atmospheres at the University of the Basque Country for the second image, the one in which the rings and moons can be seen.