NASA releases stunning new images of Jupiter from Webb telescope

NASA on Monday issued two new images of Jupiter from the James Webb Space Telescope showing the planet’s features in detail.

The images were taken by the telescope’s near-infrared camera, which uses infrared radiation to detect objects in space.

It is able to detect celestial bodies, such as stars, nebulae and planets, that are too cold or too dim to be seen in visible light, or what is visible to the human eye.

The first image of Jupiter is a composite showing the largest planet in the solar system against “the black background of space” with vortices of various colors indicating Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere.

The bright orange glow at the top and bottom of the planet shows Jupiter’s northern and southern auroras, respectively, which are located at both poles.

Also seen in the image is the famous Great Red Spot, which can produce winds of more than 250 miles per hour and is 1.3 times the diameter of Earth, according to NASA. The image shows the spot as white because it reflects sunlight and is at a high altitude.

The second image shows a wider view of Jupiter, including its rings, which are a million times fainter than the planet, according to the space agency.

Also visible are two moons of Jupiter – Adrastea and Amalthea – located on the far left of the rings.

While the rest of the image shows the blackness of space, there are faint spots in the lower part, which are actually faint galaxies glowing in the distance.

“To be honest, we didn’t really expect it to be this good,” said Imke de Pater, a professor emeritus of astronomy, Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead the Jupiter observations. , in a pronunciation. “It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter along with its rings, small satellites and even galaxies in one image.”