Webb Turns its Infrared Gaze on Mars universetoday storybywill
Webb’s first images show a region of the planet’s eastern hemisphere at two different wavelengths. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI and Mars JWST/GTO team‘s sophisticated instruments allow the telescope to capture images and spectra with the resolution needed to study Martian phenomena like seasonal changes, dust storms, weather patterns, and the planet’s daily cycles . The image above shows a surface reference map from NASA and the on the left .
The Mars images show differences in brightness integrated over many wavelengths from place to place across the planet on a particular day and time. Meanwhile, the spectra obtained show the subtle variations in brightness between hundreds of different wavelengths, representing the planet’s thermal properties as a whole. These spectroscopic observations are the first of many that astronomers will analyze to learn more about the surface and atmosphere of the planet and how they evolved over time.
Capturing these images proved challenging, as Webb’s instruments are optimized to detect faint light from the most distant galaxies in the Universe, and Mars is one of the brightest images in the night sky . Therefore, special techniques were required to prevent Webb’s detectors from becoming blinded, a phenomenon known as “detector saturation.
This is Webb’s first near-infrared spectrum of Mars, demonstrating Webb’s power to study the Red Planet with spectroscopy. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI and Mars JWST/GTO team These images and the first near-infrared spectrum of Mars demonstrate the power of the JWST to characterize exoplanet atmosphere via spectroscopy. In the future, the mission team will use‘s imaging and spectroscopic data to explore regional differences across Mars and search for other chemical signatures.
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