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James Webb: The extraordinary photograph of Jupiter taken by the telescope…

  • July 13, 2022
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Photos taken by Jupiter’s James Webb telescope. NASA photo The first photographs of the universe captured by the James Webb Space Telescope astonished the scientific world and many

James Webb: The extraordinary photograph of Jupiter taken by the telescope…
Photos taken by Jupiter's James Webb telescope.
Photos taken by Jupiter’s James Webb telescope. NASA photo

The first photographs of the universe captured by the James Webb Space Telescope astonished the scientific world and many of those who saw them.

The amount of detail and, above all, the variety of colors and the vividness of the images have led astronomers to point out that we are on the threshold of a new era in space exploration.

After the first image made public on Monday – showing a cluster of galaxies in the region called SMACS 0723 – five more images were released Tuesday, including the Carina Nebula and Stephen’s Quintet.

During the release of these images, the United States Space Agency (NASA) also published a document explaining how these records were obtained.

And on its pages you can see two graphics with two pictures of Jupiter and its moons… though they didn’t create the same excitement as the other images.

Two photos show Jupiter’s surroundings and its three natural moons: Metis, Europa and Thebe.

The statement made in the document prepared by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency is that Jupiter is used to calibrate the NIRcam, one of the infrared cameras owned by the James Webb telescope.

“The idea was to test the telescope’s ability to take images in motion, as with Jupiter’s natural moons,” they state in the document, “Characterization of performance science since the James Webb Space Telescope was commissioned.” “

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The James Webb Telescope was sent into space in December 2021. Photo Getty Images

Why Jupiter?

Scientists chose Jupiter for its qualities: a bright and massive planet.

The size helped determine what the real purpose of this test was; See how the telescope can capture moving celestial bodies even with large, bright objects behind them.

Another factor is that Jupiter is one of the slowest planets in the solar system, which made tests for fine-tuning the telescope a bit easier.

The result is a bright but raw image of Jupiter and three of its moons.

Similarly, according to experts like Lean Crane of New Scientist magazine, the report shows that the results achieved were far better than expected, which opens up another set of possibilities for James Webb.

“Tests have shown that James Webb is better than expected at tracking fast-moving objects, which will be particularly useful for studying comets, near-Earth asteroids and even interstellar objects,” he said.

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Source: El Nacional

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