Science Visualized Planetary Science

JWST spotted a new speedy jet stream in Jupiter’s atmosphere

The feature is at an altitude hidden to other telescopes

A false-color infrared image of Jupiter seen in shades of blue, green, red and white.

This false-color infrared image of Jupiter from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals new details in the planet’s atmosphere (brightness indicates altitude) as well as a glimpse at auroras (red) over the poles.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, R. Hueso/Univ. of the Basque Country, I. de Pater/UCB, T. Fouchet/Observatory of Paris, L. Fletcher/Univ. of Leicester, M. Wong/UCB, J. DePasquale/STScI

By Carolyn Wilke

New beauty shots of Jupiter, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, reveal a speedy jet stream encircling the equator at an altitude never imaged before.