The Webb Telescope, the most powerful and ambitious telescope currently in existence, has still managed to do something that no other telescope before it could: it has spotted a never before seen feature in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
This new feature is called “an unexpected wave-like feature” and can be identified when looking at Jupiter’s clouds in infrared. After first being sighted by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the mysterious wave has been documented multiple times over the years and then, recently, spotted for the first time by the Webb Telescope.
This wave-like feature is especially significant due to the fact that it’s the first ever “observed in the atmosphere of any planet other than Earth,” according to the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The wave can be found in Jupiter’s cloud tops, with its edges indicating an unknown type of atmospheric feature. Scientists are still investigating what exactly causes this wave, but its presence likely has to do with the wind flows of Jupiter’s powerful atmosphere.
“It is remarkable that the Webb Telescope can now see this featu,” said Amy Simon, a solar system expert at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We need to study more of these types of features to understand how they form and evolve.”
This new feature helps us to better understand the turbulences of Jupiter’s atmosphere. It has also helped shed some light on the deeper mysteries of other planets, which the Webb Telescope isn’t even equipped to study.
The Webb Telescope has proven to be highly successful in its mission to discover new and unexplored features across the galaxy. It’s exciting to see it making such significant discoveries even before its inauguration. It will only continue to be a vital instrument in our exploration of the universe.