The James Web Space Telescope is viewing the Solar System’s planets one by one. The last frames sent by the telescope seem to be very beneficial, especially in terms of science.
NASA and ESA released images of Mars taken by the James Web Space Telescope on September 5. The images allow us to learn more about the Martian atmosphere. The images obtained with the infrared camera (NIRCam) on the telescope are quite surprising. The Greater Hellas Basin appears darker than the surrounding areas during the hottest hours of the day. High air pressure in the low altitude areas of the basin is thought to suppress thermal emission.
The spectrographs on the James Web Space Telescope also allow space agencies to look into the Martian atmosphere at infrared wavelengths. The spectroscopic “map” shows the planet absorbing carbon dioxide at different wavelengths, but also confirms the presence of carbon monoxide and water. A future article will reveal more about the chemistry of Martian weather.
Getting these images was actually quite difficult. Mars is one of the brightest objects seen by the James Web Space Telescope. Taking these images is a daunting task for a telescope designed to view objects in the depths of the universe. To solve this problem, the researchers used very short exposures and developed special techniques to analyze the findings.
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