James Webb Telescope Team Releases Images Of Our Solar System, Showing Jupiter And Its Moon

While the entire world was busy gushing over the flurry of images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the American space agency NASA also secretly released two new fascinating pictures of the gas giant Jupiter. The new images were taken by the Webb telescope, however, they are not formal, full-resolution pictures released in the style of the main releases earlier this week. 

According to Sky News, the pictures were included in a NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) commissioning document to show that its NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) can track moving targets. The images show Jupiter and its Moon in a new light. 

Take a look below: 

Y'all - I promised and now I deliver. In today's report "Characterization of JWST Science Performance from Commissioning" (https://t.co/cR4CI1Jn4f), Figure 1 is engineering data featuring Jupiter, including some moons and a ring! It'll only get better from here, so buckle up! pic.twitter.com/e20TsxhXaW

— Dr Heidi B. Hammel (@hbhammel) July 12, 2022

One can see a short-wavelength image of Jupiter on the left and a long-wavelength image on the right. It reveals the kinds of dramatically different atmospheric conditions that the Webb telescope is able to spot. 

As per the outlet, both images were taken with a 75-second exposure. They feature Jupiter's moons Europa, Thebe and Metis. The shadow of Europa is also visible to the left of the Great Red Spot. 

The latest pictures suggest that the James Webb Space Telescope will be useful for work in our solar system as well. According to the Independent, the JWST could track near-Earth objects and comets as they fly through our cosmic neighbourhood. 

Also Read | 1st Batch Of Full-Colour Images From NASA's Webb For You To Gaze At

Meanwhile, astronomers have said that the new powerful James Webb Space Telescope could make discoveries which are yet to be imagined. "Who knows what's coming for JWST. But I'm sure we're going to have a lot of surprises," René Doyon, principal investigator for one of Webb's instruments, the Near-Infrared Imager and Slit less Spectrograph, said. 

Distant colliding galaxies, gas-giant exoplanets and dying star systems were the first celestial subjects captured by the multibillion-dollar observatory.