Jupiter closest to Earth
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New Webb images of Jupiter highlighting the planet's features, including its turbulent Great Red Spot (shown in white here) | Photo Courtesy: NASA

New telescope visuals capture Jupiter as never before


The world’s newest and biggest space telescope will show Jupiter as never before.

James Webb Space Telescope took the photos in July, capturing unprecedented views of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights, and swirling polar haze.

The visuals show Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a storm big enough to swallow Earth, standing out brightly alongside countless smaller storms. One wide-field picture is particularly dramatic, showing the faint rings around the planet.

“We have never seen Jupiter like this. It’s all quite incredible,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the observation.

‘We have not really expected it to be this good, to be honest,” she added in a statement.

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The infrared images were artificially coloured in blue, white, green, yellow and orange, according to the US-French research team, to make the features stand out.

Scientists hope to behold the dawn of the universe with Webb, peering all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago.

The observatory is positioned 1 million mile (1.6 million km) from Earth.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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