The James Webb Space Telescope team is fresh off the exciting unveiling of the telescope’s first full-color pictures, but these images aren’t the only ones the observatory has captured. Star photos of Jupiter were hidden in the commissioning report.
While the Webb telescope is primarily interested in objects that lie much further away and well outside our solar system, which it can capture with significantly greater visual accuracy than Hubble, the observatory team is testing its capabilities by pointing it at objects , much closer to Earth. In this case, Webb captured these images of the Jupiter during a performance test of its ability to track moving targets.
The photos and descriptions were included in the James Webb Space Telescope commissioning report, which was spotted by Science Alert, and show Jupiter as well as three of its moons: Europa, Thebes and Metis.
“JWST has a Tier 1 requirement to track objects in the Solar System at speeds up to 30 milliarcseconds per second (mas/s). At commissioning, tracking was tested at speeds from 5 mas/s to >67_mas/s. These tests confirmed the effectiveness of the tracking and science instrument for moving targets, including jitter and mosaic,” the commissioning report said.
Webb’s team reports that all tests on moving targets were successful and there was no evidence of poor tracking. The images of Jupiter were included because, first, the team expected it would be challenging for Webb to observe a bright planet and its moons and rings because of the stray light that could affect its instruments. But also, secondly, the fine-tuning sensor will be tasked with tracking guide stars near a bright planet.
As can be seen from the clear infrared images, the test was a success and the exposure time for the images was 75 seconds, during which Webb had to accurately track the relatively close, fast-moving object. The image on the left was taken with the Webb Near Infrared Camera (NIRcam) using a filter that emphasizes short wavelengths, while the one on the right was taken with a filter that emphasizes the long wavelengths of light also captured by the NIRcam.
While the images of Jupiter are interesting in their own right, the fact that Webb was able to capture them accurately means that it is suitable for observing and accurately capturing near-Earth objects such as comets and asteroids.
Webb continues to exceed expectations
The commissioning report also revealed that the James Webb Space Telescope will, in most cases, be able to see faster and further than expected. Several factors contributed to significantly better sensitivity for most instrument modes than assumed in the observation planning exposure time calculator.
Even more exciting, the report concluded that the James Webb has enough fuel on board to last at least 20 years. When the telescope was originally launched, NASA scientists expected Webb to remain in service for between five and 10 years, meaning that the observatory’s current state is double the original lifespan of the largest and most powerful orbiting observatory that mankind has ever built. ever launched into space.
There is so much that James Webb has to show scientists and his journey is just beginning.
Image credits: NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI
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