Following the release of the first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday, data from the telescope’s commissioning period are now being published in the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Mikulsky Archive for Space Telescopes. The data include images of Jupiter and images and spectra of several asteroids, taken to test the telescope’s instruments before the official start of science operations on July 12. The data show that Webb can track Solar System targets and produce images and spectra with unprecedented detail.
Jupiter fans will recognize some familiar features of our solar system’s giant planet in these Webb infrared images. The view from the NIRCam instrument’s short-wavelength filter shows distinct bands that surround the planet, as well as the Great Red Spot, a storm large enough to engulf Earth. The iconic spot appears white in this image because of the way Webb’s infrared image was processed.”Combined with the deep field images released recently, these images of Jupiter demonstrate a complete understanding of what Webb can observe, from the faintest, most distant observable galaxies to the planets in our own cosmic backyard that you can see with the naked eye.” your real backyard,” said Bryan Holler, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore who helped plan the observations.
Clearly visible on the left is Europa, a moon with a likely ocean beneath a thick icy crust and the target of NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission. What’s more, Europa’s shadow can be seen to the left of the Great Red Spot. Other visible moons in these images include Thebes and Metis.”I couldn’t believe we could see everything so clearly and how bright they were,” said Stefanie Milam, Webb’s deputy project scientist for planetary science based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s really exciting to think about the capabilities and opportunities we have to observe these kinds of objects in our solar system.”
Scientists were especially eager to see these images because they are evidence that Webb can observe satellites and rings near bright solar system objects such as Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Scientists will use Webb to explore the exciting question of whether we can see plumes of material spewing from moons like Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Webb can see traces of clouds depositing material on Europa’s surface. “I think it’s just one of the best things we’re going to be able to do with this telescope in the solar system,” Milam said.
In addition, Webb easily captured some of Jupiter’s rings, which stand out particularly well in the long-wavelength NIRcam image. That the rings appeared in one of Webb’s first images of the solar system is “absolutely amazing and amazing,” Milam said.” The images of Jupiter in narrowband filters were designed to give nice images of the planet’s entire disk, but the amount of additional information about very faint objects (Metis, Thebes, the main ring, the veils) in these images with exposures of about one minute was absolutely a very pleasant surprise.” said John Stansberry, observatory scientist and NIRCam commissioning lead at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Webb also obtained these images of Jupiter and Europa moving across the telescope’s field of view in three separate observations. This test demonstrated the observatory’s ability to find and track guide stars near bright Jupiter. But how fast can an object move and still be tracked by Webb? This has been an important question for scientists who study asteroids and comets. During commissioning, Webb used an asteroid named 6481 Tenzing, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, to begin “speed limit” tests of tracking moving targets.
Webb was designed with the requirement to track objects that move as fast as Mars, which has a top speed of 30 milliseconds per second. During commissioning, Webb’s team made observations of various asteroids, all of which appeared as dots because they were all small. The team proved that Webb will still acquire valuable data with all the science instruments for objects moving at speeds up to 67 milliseconds per second, more than double the expected baseline similar to photographing a crawling turtle when you’re standing a mile away. “Everything worked great,” Milam said.
For more read: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/07/14/webb-images-of-jupiter-and-more-now-available-in-commissioning-data/
