James Webb Space Telescope captures Jupiter and its massive storm in new raw image

After observing Jupiter during the James Webb Space Telescope’s commissioning phase, scientists again pointed the world’s most powerful observatory toward the gas giant. The new raw image above was captured using the Webb Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on July 27 and shows Jupiter’s bands and the glowing Great Red Spot.

A report by Space.com revealed that the planet was observed for nearly 11 minutes through a special F212N filter which observes light with a wavelength of 2.12 microns, roughly the average size of a bacteria. Webb is specialised in detecting infrared light, which cannot be seen but felt in the form of heat and can peer through thick clouds of dust, allowing the telescope to see what's hidden behind. 

The James Webb Space Telescope became fully operational on July 12 when its first images showing the deepest view of the universe were revealed. Launched on December 25, the Webb telescope is jointly operated by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Notably, this is not the first time Jupiter was the target of the telescope. 

A few weeks ago, the Webb mission team focused the telescope on the gas giant to test NIRCam's ability to track moving objects. The image below shows Jupiter and its Moons which were observed in short and long-wavelength, with the planet's band more clearly visible in the picture on the left. Jupiter's moons Europa, Thebe, and Metis also feature in the image and were taken with a 75-second exposure. 

(Jupiter and its Moons observed by Webb; Image: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI)

What's next for Webb?

The STScI's preliminary schedule suggests that the Webb telescope will target Jupiter's volcanic moon Io or Jupiter 1, the large asteroid Hygeia and the supernova remnants Cassiopeia A next week, Space.com reported. Currently, several teams have been allotted observational time on the telescope through NASA's JWST Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) programme. This programme promises 16% use of the observatory over its first 3 cycles of operation.

These teams have their own agenda and their observational targets range from stars and galaxies to exoplanets as well as asteroids and comets.