Designed to track the most distant galaxies in the universe, the machine also shows its full potential in the observation of nearby objects in our solar system.
“I have to say these are the most beautiful images of Jupiter I have ever seen,” enthused American astronomer James O’Donoghue on Twitter. “And yet my specialty is the study of auroras and the upper atmosphere of this planet.” For the neophyte too, the first images of Jupiter taken by the large James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and revealed on Tuesday August 22 by NASA, offer a surprising spectacle. Among other things because astronomers had to choose a special color palette to represent the infrared radiation collected by the telescope and to which our eyes are insensitive, but not only.
Observing Jupiter in this wavelength range also makes it possible to see the auroras which illuminate the upper atmosphere above each of the poles. As for the sensitivity and the very high resolution of the telescope, they give a luxury of incredible details on the clouds of the largest planet in the Solar System while allowing…
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