NASA and ESA just releasedFirst images of Mars taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (SWST). According to space agenciesrecords provide a “unique perspective” of the red planetbut very different from other equally impressive images taken by the supertelescope.
Mars Recordings Already Released are dated September 5 and are based on NIRCam’s reading capabilities., James Webb’s infrared camera. But the photo shoot was not easy.
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The images in the gallery on the left show a reference surface map from NASA and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) overlaying the two fields of view of the Webb NIRCam instrument. Webb’s near-infrared images are shown on the right.
The fact that Mars is relatively close to Earth makes the planet one of the brightest celestial bodies in the night sky, in terms of visible light and infrared light. This makes imaging difficult, as the supertelescope’s instruments were designed to detect faint light from distant galaxies.
“Special techniques were used to prevent Webb from being flooded with light,” the space agencies said.
Images taken by NIRCam show the region of the eastern hemisphere of Mars at two different wavelengthsor colors of infrared light.
credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI and Mars JWST/GTO team
The researchers intend to continue pointing the telescope at Mars in order to collect additional information about the surface and atmosphere of the red planetnamely, the existence of methane, which may indicate the presence of hereditary life.
