NASA on August 23 released two new images of Jupiter captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The images were captured using the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, which uses specialized infrared filters that showcase details of the planet.
Salient features
- The first image provides a standalone view of Jupiter, created from a composite of several images captured by Webb, showcasing auroras that extend to high altitudes above the planet’s northern and southern poles using a filter that is mapped to redder colors.
- Another filter, mapped to blues, highlights light reflected from a deeper main cloud and makes the Great Red Spot, a powerful storm on the planet, appear white.
- The second image, Webb sees Jupiter with its faint rings, which are a million times fainter than the planet, and two tiny moons called Amalthea and Adrastea.
About Jupiter
- Fifth in line from the Sun, Jupiter is, by far, the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined.
- Jupiter’s familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.
- Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years. One spacecraft – NASA’s Juno orbiter – is currently exploring this giant world.
- Jupiter rotates once about every 10 hours (a Jovian day), but takes about 12 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun (a Jovian year).
- Jupiter has more than 75 moons. In 1979 the Voyager mission discovered Jupiter’s faint ring system. All four giant planets in our solar system have ring systems.
