The observatory team at NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently unveiled its first photographs of Jupiter amid a flurry of eagerly awaited new images.
The planet, its ring, and three of its moons were depicted in the images collected by JWST when its scientific instruments were being tested. In the left image, just to the left of the planet’s Great Red Spot, lies the shadow of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
How The Images Were Taken?
The images were taken with the telescope’s near-infrared camera, NIRCam, and two different filters that focused on different light wavelengths.
They were made public as part of the JWST commissioning report, which details all of the testing that the scientific instruments went through before they could begin collecting data seriously.
Related: NASA’s Webb Reveals Cosmic Cliffs, Scintillating Landscape Of Star Birth
A Test Of James Webb Telescope.
A test to see if the observatory could monitor things traveling at great speeds through the solar system including photos of Jupiter. Out of the nine moving targets used in these tests, Jupiter was the slowest, but also the largest and most spectacular.
Jupiter demonstrated that objects can still be tracked even when a bright planet is reflecting light into the cameras.
The tests showed that JWST is even more adept at tracking moving objects than was anticipated. This will be especially helpful for studying comets, near-Earth asteroids, and even interstellar objects.
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