【Seventeen (2019)】

In a pair of eye-opening new space photos,Seventeen (2019) the largest planet in our solar system glows like never before, with its hazy surface, and its northern and southern auroras, rendered seemingly incandescent by the sun’s glaring rays. 

The James Webb Space Telescope is equipped with a system called the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which doesn’t take photos like your smartphone does. By taking in light from outside the spectrum visible to the human eye, it captures previously invisible realities — presenting Jupiter as a planet teeming with ethereal phenomena.

Left:The new infrared view Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Jupiter ERS Team / Image processing by Judy Schmidt. Right:A 2020 Hubble photo of Jupiter Credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) / M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) / OPAL team

To convert the infrared data into useable, and gorgeous, images, NASA received help from citizen scientist Judy Schmidt who pieced together the above photo from three infrared data layers. In the above image, the red layer comes from Webb’s F360M layer, which is used for planets; the yellow-green layer is Webb’s F212N filter, used for molecular hydrogen; and the cyan comes from the F150W2 filter (you can read more about these filters here). Schmidt also corrected the misalignment of the images caused by Jupiter’s rotation. 

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

---

You May Also Like

---

---

SEE ALSO: NASA GIF shows extraordinary power of the Webb telescope

A second image by NASA, Schmidt, and citizen scientist Ricardo Hueso is drawn from just two of the NIRCam filters, and it gives a wider view of this glowing, infrared version of Jupiter. We see the enormous planet set against distant galaxies, and can make out its faint and rarely photographed rings, along with two of its moons: Amalthea and Adrastea. 

Want more science and tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newslettertoday.

---

Related Stories

---

• This is how colossal NASA's new Hubble Space Telescope successor is
• What the giant James Webb telescope will see that Hubble can't
• What do the James Webb images tell us about the sun's fate?
• Many of the Webb telescope’s greatest discoveries won't come from any amazing pictures
• The first images from the James Webb telescope are finally here

Rings, galaxies, moons, and, oh yeah, also Jupiter. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Jupiter ERS Team / Image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV / EHU) and Judy Schmidt

Astronomer Imke de Pater, who along with astronomer Thierry Fouchet led the Webb Jupiter observations, told NASA: "We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest," and added, "It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter together with its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in one image."

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})