NASA releases Jupiter images from James Webb telescope ahead of Artemis rocket launch to moon
The James Webb Space Telescope captured unprecedented views of Jupiter's northern and southern lights. (NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt)
The world's newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all.
Key points:
- The James Webb Space Telescope took the photos in July
- The infrared images were artificially coloured to make the features stand out
- NASA's new moon rocket has arrived at the launch pad ahead of its maiden flight scheduled for next week
Scientists have just released the images of the solar system's biggest planet, but they were taken by the James Webb Space Telescope last month.
The images provide unprecedented views of Jupiter's northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow Earth, stands out brightly alongside countless smaller storms.
One wide-field picture is particularly dramatic, showing the faint rings around the planet, as well as two tiny moons against a glittering background of galaxies.
Artificial colour was used to highlight Jupiter's features. (NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.)
Planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead the observations, said Jupiter had never been seen like this before.
"It's all quite incredible," she said.
"We hadn't really expected it to be this good, to be honest."
The infrared images were artificially coloured in blue, white, green, yellow, and orange, to make the features stand out, according to the US-French research team.
The images highlight Jupiter's features in a way never seen before. (NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU) and Judy Schmidt.)
NASA and the European Space Agency's $10 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope rocketed away at the end of last year and has been observing the cosmos in the infrared.
Scientists hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb, peering all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago.
The observatory is positioned 1.6 million kilometres from Earth.
Moon launch days away
NASA is aiming for an August 29 lift off for the lunar test flight. (AP: Terry Renna)
NASA's new moon rocket arrived at the launch pad last week, ahead of its debut flight scheduled for August 29.
NASA will provide coverage of pre-launch, launch, and post-launch activities for Artemis I, the first integrated test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
No-one will be inside the crew capsule atop the rocket; instead there will be three mannequins swarming with sensors to measure radiation and vibration for the test flight.
The capsule will fly around the moon in a distant orbit for a couple of weeks, before heading back for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The entire flight should last six weeks and is the first moonshot in NASA's Artemis program.
"Now for the first time since 1972, we're going to be launching a rocket that's designed for deep space," NASA's rocket program manager John Honeycutt said.
The NASA Artemis rocket is the first designed for deep space since the 1970s. (AP: Terry Renna)
Artemis is named after Apollo's mythological twin sister.
Twenty-four astronauts flew to the moon during the Apollo program, with 12 of them landing on it from 1969 through 1972.
Live coverage of events will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website, and will feature guest appearances from a number of celebrities.
AP