Type at least three characters to start auto complete. Recently searched locations will be displayed if there is no search query. The first option will be automatically selected. Use up and down arrows to change selection. Use escape to clear.

The prodigious James Webb Space Telescope has been pulling its weight ever since its deployment, bedazzling us with back-to-back pictures of the most extraordinary cosmic events from the farthest reaches of both cosmos and time. Now, in a moment of homesickness, scientists have decided to concentrate its galactic gaze a bit closer and capture the northern lights — but from an entirely different planet!

Captured in magnificent detail never achieved before, the Webb Telescope has imaged the twin auroras that ornament both poles of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.

In the picture, red auroras glimmer high in the skies above the North and South poles of the gas giant, while a green haze forms a neat audience around the phenomenon at lower altitudes of the blue-tinted planet. Adding to the swank is a blur of the ring swagged around Jupiter.

The reason for these colours is due to the way the data from the telescope has been processed. The JWST produces data in raw form, which many scientists mold and composite to form the images we see today. The information for this image comes from the observatory’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which utilises three filters to categorise details of the planet.

But as infrared lights are invisible to the human eye, this image was formed by fitting the infrared data over the visible light spectrum.

“We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest,” exclaimed Imke de Pater, professor emerita of the University of California, Berkeley. “It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter together with its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in one image.”

The tiny satellites and galaxies she mentioned are part of the second image released by the telescope, where tiny smudges litter the backdrop of the hydrogen titan. Other white spots and streaks on the planet are high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms, NASA scientists reckon.

Another treat that lies within the second wide-field image is the two Jovial moons, Amalthea and Adrastea, along with the bright diffraction spike from Io, Jupiter’s innermost moon. The diffraction from the auroras also adds a ghostly haze to the sphere.

While the telescope helps provide data from these celestial goliaths, it isn’t always packaged in a way that makes sense. Therefore, the responsibility falls upon other people to make sense of the large amounts of data produced. And a lot of the time, the people delivering these magnificent images aren’t even always professionals.

Judy Schmidt of Modesto California is a long-time image processor in the citizen scientist community, and regularly produces these types of unbelievable images using data from scientific sources such as the JWST. The community is also responsible for these two images, and it serves as a massive testament to what passion can achieve, even if you aren’t working in core space.

For weather, science, space, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). It's free!

We recognise our responsibility to use data and technology for good. Take control of your data.

© Copyright TWC Product and Technology LLC 2014, 2022