With giant storms, strong winds, extreme temperatures and pressures, Jupiter is certainly a planet of great interest. Now, 's James Webb NASA Space Telescope has captured new images of the planet , taken in July, that provide a stunning view of the various features, moons and rings of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Webb's observations will give scientists even more clues about Jupiter's inner life.
The two images come from the telescope's infrared camera, which has three specialized filters that show details of the planet. Scientists worked with citizen scientist Judy Schmidt to translate Webb 's data into images.
See also: Planetary photobombing: How do exoplanets make the search for extraterrestrial life more difficult?
The scientists released the footage on Monday.
The new images provided by the largest and most powerful space telescope show elements that had not been detected before, as well as other things that we knew, with the difference that now we see them with greater precision.
In this image of Jupiter, created from a composite of multiple images from the James Webb Space Telescope, auroras extend to high altitudes above the 's north and south poles planet. The auroras shine through a filter that also highlights light reflected from lower clouds and upper hazes. A different filter shows light reflected from a deeper main cloud.
See also: NASA's terrifying remix has the sound of a black hole
Jupiter's Great Red Spot , a storm large enough to swallow Earth, stands out prominently next to countless smaller storms. It appears white in these images, as do other clouds, because it reflects a lot of light.
One image is particularly striking, showing the faint rings around the planet, as well as two tiny moons of Jupiter, called Amalthea and Adrastea. The fuzzy spots in the lower background are possible galaxies.
“We’ve never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all pretty incredible,” said Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berkeley. De Pater led the Jupiter observations with Thierry Fouchet, a professor at the Paris Observatory, as part of an international collaboration for Webb’s Early Release Science program. “We didn’t really expect it to be this good, to be honest.”
"It's truly remarkable that we can see details of Jupiter along with its rings, tiny moons and even galaxies its," he said.
See also: Dinosaur footprints found in Texas
The $10 billion successor to NASA and the European Space Agency's Hubble Space Telescope , the James Webb, launched into space late last year and has been observing the universe since the summer. Scientists hope to see the dawn of the universe with Webb and learn more about when and how early galaxies and stars formed.
The space telescope is located 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.
