The beauty of Jupiter, revealed in new images from the James Webb Telescope

First modification: 08/23/2022 – 18:23

Unexpected images reveal the beauty of the largest planet in the solar system. On August 22, NASA scientists released new images of Jupiter taken in July by the James Webb Space Telescope, showing the planet like never before.

One of the shots is especially spectacular: it shows the auroras at the two poles of the planet, the luminous phenomena generated by solar storms, as well as two small Jovian moons called Amalthea and Adrasthea, against a bright background of galaxies, and their faint rings.

A technological jewel to observe the cosmos like never before

“We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s absolutely amazing,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, who helped lead the observations.

“We did not expect the images to be so good, to be honest,” he added in the same statement.

The infrared images were artificially colored blue, white, green, yellow and orange, according to the US-French research team, to highlight the planet’s features.

The James Webb Space Telescope, developed by NASA with the participation of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), has cost 10,000 million dollars. A technological marvel that has been observing the cosmos since the beginning of summer.

Scientists hope to be able to go back to the time when the first stars and galaxies formed, 13.7 billion years ago.

The observatory is located 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.

with AP

This article was adapted from its French original