Simulated spectroscopy results from the plumes of Europa. This is an example of the data the Webb telescope could return that could identify the composition of this moon’s subsurface ocean. Credit: NASA-GSFC/SVS, Hubble Space Telescope, Stefanie Milam, Geronimo Villanueva
As NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope moves through the final stages of commissioning its science instruments, we’ve also begun the observatory’s engineering operations. As the telescope moves through space, it will constantly find distant stars and galaxies and point at them with extreme precision to obtain images and spectra. However, we also plan to observe planets and their satellites, asteroids and comets in our solar system, which move past the background stars of our galaxy.
Webb must be able to lock these objects in place and track them with enough precision to obtain images and spectra. The Webb team recently completed the first test to track a moving object. The test confirmed that Webb could perform moving target science. As we proceed with the commissioning, we will test other objects moving at different speeds to verify that we can study objects with Webb moving through the solar system.
Today we asked Heidi Hammel, interdisciplinary scientist at Webb for Solar System Observations, to tell us about her plans for studying Earth’s closest neighbours:
“I’m very excited about Webb’s upcoming first year of science operations. I’m leading a team of equally enthusiastic astronomers eager to start downloading data. Webb can detect the faint light of the earliest galaxies, but my team will be much closer to They will use Webb to unravel some of the mysteries that exist in our own solar system.
“One of the questions I often get is why we need a powerful telescope like Webb to study our nearby solar system. We planetary scientists use telescopes to complement our in-situ missions (missions we send to fly by, to fly into orbit or land at An example of this is how Hubble was used to find the post-Pluto target for the New Horizons mission, Arrokoth.We also use telescopes when we don’t have in-situ missions, such as for the distant ice giants Uranus and Neptune or to take measurements of large populations of objects, such as hundreds of asteroids or Kuiper Belt objects (small ice worlds outside Neptune’s orbits, including Pluto), as we can only go to a few of these missions to steer.
“The Webb team has already used an asteroid in our solar system to conduct technical tests of its ‘moving target’ (MT) capability. The engineering team has tested this capability on a small asteroid in the main belt: 6481 Tenzing, named to Tenzing Norgay, the famous Tibetan mountain guide who was one of the first to reach the top of Mount Everest. Bryan Holler, of the Space Telescope Science Institute, had the choice of about 40 possible asteroids to test the MT tracking, but, as he told our team, “Because the objects were otherwise all nearly identical, it seemed a good idea to choose the one with a name associated with success.” We like that sort of thing.
“My role at Webb as an ‘Interdisciplinary Scientist’ means that my program uses all the capabilities of this front telescope. We need them all to really understand the solar system (and the universe).
“Our solar system has many more mysteries than my team had time to solve. Our programs will observe objects throughout the solar system: we will image the giant planets and Saturn’s rings; explore many Kuiper belt objects; the atmosphere of Mars; detailed studies of Titan and much more There are also other teams planning observations: in the first year, 7% of Webb’s time will be focused on objects within our solar system.
“One exciting and challenging program that we plan to do is to observe ocean worlds. There is evidence from the Hubble Space Telescope that Jupiter’s moon Europa has sporadic plumes of wetland material. We plan to take high-resolution images of Europa in order to study the surface and look for plume activity and active geological processes. When locating a plume, we will use Webb’s spectroscopy to analyze the plume’s composition.
“I have a soft spot in my heart for Uranus and Neptune. Indeed, it was the lack of a mission to these very distant worlds that got me involved with Webb so many decades ago. The Uranus team hopes to finally connect the chemistry and dynamics.” connecting the upper atmosphere (detectable with Webb) to the deeper atmosphere that we have studied over many decades with other facilities.I have spent the last 30 years using the largest and best telescopes that mankind has ever built to study these ice giants, and we will now add Webb to that list.
“We’ve been planning Webb observations for over twenty years, and that has accelerated now that we’re launched, deployed and focused. I will note that almost all of my team’s data from my team’s solar system will be freely available.” for the broad planetary science community immediately.I made that choice to enable more scientific discoveries with Webb in future proposals.
“I’m glad I’ve been able to work with the team during all this time, and I especially want to thank the thousands of people who together made possible this amazing facility for the astrophysics and planetary communities. Thank you; ad astra.”
The first full-color, scientific images from the Webb telescope are coming in July
Provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Quote: Webb telescope almost ready to explore the solar system (2022, May 20) retrieved May 20, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-webb-telescope-explore-solar.html
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