@nasawebb

By Jove! Let's dive into Webb's test images of Jupiter 👇 While preparing the Webb telescope to start science operations, we tested how it tracks objects in our solar system, such as Jupiter. But Webb didn't just image Jupiter — it also caught Jupiter's moon, Europa! These test images have engineering purposes, so they're not processed in the same way as the first images you saw earlier this week. Fans of Jupiter will recognize some familiar features of our solar system’s biggest planet. In the first image (taken by Webb's NIRCam instrument with a short-wavelength filter), check out the distinct bands that encircle the planet, as well as the Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow the Earth. The iconic spot appears white in this image because of the way Webb’s infrared image was processed. In the second image (taken by NIRCam with a long-wavelength filter), you can see that Webb easily captured some of Jupiter's rings. That the rings showed up in one of Webb's first solar system images is "absolutely astonishing and amazing," said Stefanie Milam, Webb's deputy project scientist for planetary science at @NASAGoddard. Read more at the link in our bio! Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI (B. Holler and J. Stansberry) - ALT TEXT: 1. Jupiter dominates the frame, appearing to glow with bands of bright white, light yellow, and darker, brownish oranges. The stripes circle the planet, with one especially thick bright band across the planet’s center. A spot of glowing bright white interrupts the darker brown band about a third from the bottom of the planet. To the left of Jupiter, Europa appears as a tiny, black circle with a bright starburst erupting from its edges. The background of the image is pure black.⁣⁣ 2. Jupiter appears here as a bright white circle with distinctive, thin rings encircling it. On the left is its moon, Europa, comparatively much smaller than Jupiter. Here, Europa is so bright that it shows up as a black central dot with 6 long, defined diffraction spikes extending out of it, as well as 2 additional spikes that are much more faint. Other moons are visible as small bright spots. The background of the image is a brownish orange.