The solar system's king, the gas giant Jupiter, will soon be looked at by the JAMES WEBB SPACE TIRE.
Jupiter has a lot of mysteries, including the nature of its delicate rings, how its largest moons may harbor oceans of water or hidden volcanoes, and how massive storms like the Great Red Spot form in the giant planet's turbulent atmosphere. Researchers say that the planet will be the perfect "proving ground" for the $10 billion observatory that will showcase its first images on July 12.
Imke de Pater, a planetary scientist at the University of California, is one of the study co-leaders.
"Jupiter is so bright, and Webb's instruments are so sensitive, that observing both, the bright planet and its fainter rings and moons, will be an excellent test of how to get the most out of the project," said de Pater.
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Jupiter is a bright target that will require precise calibrations of the instruments so as not to damage the telescope. The gas giant makes it hard to take a time-lapse image.
Scientists say they are looking forward to new discoveries once the obstacles are overcome.
Jupiter will be studied heavily. The telescope will look at the winds, clouds, gas and temperature of the enigmatic cyclone storms in the polar region.
The atmosphere just above the Great Red Spot is much colder than other zones of Jupiter.
The team wants to find new moonlets in Jupiter's rings. The faint ring system can be washed out by the bright light of the planet. The problem of seeing faint worlds next to bright stars can be solved.
There are moons of Jupiter. The first set of studies will look at how the worlds formed and changed over the years.
Researchers stated that the moon's outer atmosphere will be imaged to better understand the moon's interaction with Jupiter'smagnetic field. There is a suspicion of a saltwater ocean beneath the surface of the island.
The investigations of Io will include a search for stealth volcanoes, which are believed to be erupting without scattering any dust particles that would better reflect light.
It is possible to spot stealth volcanoes along with "hot spots" thanks to the higher spatial resolution of the mission. It is possible that the high temperature concentrations on Io's surface are similar to what is seen with Earth's volcanism, but more study is needed.
Not much data has been collected about the temperature at different altitudes of the moon's atmosphere, so the telescope will look in detail at Io's temperature structure.
The telescopes that are close to the planet will be providing assistance as the telescope turns its sights on Jupiter. The context for the Jupiter-orbiting Juno will be provided by the long-range view of Jupiter's atmosphere.
Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley said that no one observatory or spaceship can do it all. Combining data from multiple observatories will tell us a lot more than we could from one source.
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