Jupiter It is the largest planet in the solar system. It looks like a star, but it never got massive enough to start burning. It is covered in swirling cloud streaks. There are strong storms like the Great Red Spot, which have lasted for hundreds of years. Now thanks to the new james webb space telescope were able to capture shocking images of the aurora borealis and the extreme temperature and pressure conditions of this “giant” planet.

The Webb is the most powerful and complex space telescope in the history of astronomy. It is part of an international program led by the US Space Agency and with its partners, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.

“To be honest, we didn’t expect it to be so good”says the planetary astronomer Imke de Paterprofessor emeritus of University of California at Berkeley. De Pater led Jupiter observations with Paris Observatory professor Thierry Fouchet as part of an international collaboration for Webb’s Early Release Science program. “It is truly remarkable that we can see details of Jupiter with its rings, small satellites and even galaxies in a single image,” the expert said.

The telescope captured images using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). This camera has three specialized infrared filters that show the details of the planet. Since infrared light is invisible to the human eye, the light has been mapped to the visible spectrum. In general, longer wavelengths appear more red and shorter wavelengths appear more blue. To translate the Webb data into images, the scientists collaborated with Judy Schmidt, an amateur astronomer with the US Planetary Society.

In the independent view of Jupiter, created from a composite of several Webb images, The aurora spread high over Jupiter’s north and south poles. The aurora glows in a redder color filter, which also brings out reflected light from the lower clouds and upper fogs. A different filter, mapped in yellows and greens, shows the mists swirling around the north and south poles. A third filter, mapped to blue, shows light reflecting off a deeper main cloud.

The Great Red Spot, the infamous storm so big it could engulf the Earth, appears white in these views, like other clouds, because they reflect a lot of sunlight. “The glow here indicates a high altitude – so the Great Red Spot has haze at high altitudes, just like the equatorial region,” said Heidi Hammel, Webb Interdisciplinary Scientist for Solar System Observations and Vice President of Science at AURA.

“The many bright white ‘spots’ and ‘streaks’ are likely high-altitude cloud tops from condensed convective thunderstorms.” In contrast, the dark belts north of the equatorial region have little cloud cover. In a wide-angle view, the Webb Telescope can see Jupiter with its faint rings, which are a million times fainter than the planet, and two tiny moons called Amalthea and Adrasthea. The diffuse spots in the lower background are probably galaxies that have “creeped” into Jupiter’s view.

“This image summarizes the science of our Jupiter System program, which studies the dynamics and chemistry of Jupiter itself, its rings, and its satellite system.”said Fouchet. Researchers have already started analyzing Webb data for new scientific findings on the largest planet in our solar system.

Data from telescopes like the Webb does not come to Earth neatly packaged. Instead, they contain information about the brightness of the light at the telescope’s detectors. This information comes to the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is Webb’s science and mission operations center, in the form of raw data. This center processes the data into calibrated files for scientific analysis and forwards them to the Mikulski Space Telescope Archive for dissemination.

Scientists then translate this information into images. While a team at STScI formally processes Webb images for official release, lay astronomers, now known as “citizen scientists”, often dive into public data archives to retrieve and process the images as well.

Schmidt lives in Modesto, Calif., and has long been processing images in the amateur astronomical community. He processed these new observations of Jupiter. For the image that includes small satellites, he collaborated with Ricardo Huesoco-investigator on these observations, who studies planetary atmospheres at the University of the Basque Country in Spain.

Schmidt has no university education in astronomy. But 10 years ago, a competition for European agencies ignited his insatiable passion for image processing. The “Hubble Hidden Treasures” competition invited the public to discover new nuggets in Hubble data. Out of nearly 3,000 submissions, Schmidt took third place for an image of a newborn star. “There is something that has stuck with me and I can’t stop. I could spend hours and hours every day,” he said in a NASA Blog.

Her love for astronomical images led her to process images of nebulae, globular clusters, stellar nurseries and more spectacular cosmic objects. His philosophy is, “I try to make it look natural, even if it’s nothing like what the eye can see.” These images caught the attention of professional scientists, including Hammel, who previously worked with Schmidt to refine Hubble’s images of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9’s impact on Jupiter.

It is expected that the Webb Telescope provides observations of all phases of cosmic history. Schmidt hopes to be amazed by star-forming regions. “I really can’t wait to see these weird and wonderful baby stars poke holes in nebulae,” he said.

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