The James Webb Telescope displays new ‘surprisingly accurate’ images of Jupiter

The James Webb Space Telescope has presented two new “surprisingly accurate” images of Jupiter that show giant storms and strong winds, providing scientists with new clues about the planet’s inner life.

On Monday, the US space agency (NASA) celebrated the quality of the details of the new images, which, according to Emeke de Pater, professor emeritus at the University of California and co-director of observations, should not be “very good.” .

Published images show that the aurora borealis on Jupiter extends to high altitudes above the north and south poles.

This light was captured by the NiRcam instrument, which has three infrared filters, and this light is invisible to the human eye.

To plot an image, the data was “translated” into the visible spectrum.

Longer wavelengths tend to appear more “reddish” and shorter wavelengths blue.

Visibly seen in these images is the “Big Red Spot,” a sandstorm so large according to NASA that it “could swallow the Earth” and appear to be “white” because it reflects so much sunlight.

Webb scientist Heidi Hamill points out that the flare is a sign of a high altitude, concluding that this major event has “high-altitude fog.”

The rings of Jupiter, “a million times darker than the planet,” according to the statement, and two small moons called Amalthea and Adrastea, can be seen in the images.

The James Webb Telescope, a US$10 billion project, is named after a former NASA official and was sent into space on December 25, after successive delays, on a European-made rocket. It is located in an orbit of 1.5 million km from Earth.

Portuguese astronomer Catarina Alves de Oliveira, who works at the European Space Agency’s Science Operations Center, in Spain, is responsible for calibrating one of James Webb’s four instruments, and is involved in the campaign to prepare observations for scientific purposes.

Several Portuguese scientists are involved in research projects that involve observing time with a telescope.

Astronomers with James Webb hope to obtain more data on the early days of the universe, including the birth of the first galaxies and stars, but also on the formation of planets.