NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captures its first images of Mars, reveals interesting details

Known for capturing some incredible images of the universe, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has presented us with new pictures of our neighbor, Mars. The telescope captured its first images and spectra of Mars on September 5. The James Webb Space Telescope, an international collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), was launched in December 2021. Last month, the telescope gave us a detailed view of Jupiter, showing the auroras and rings around the planet.

In an official blog today, NASA share News showing the first images of the Red Planet by the Webb Telescope. According to a NASA tweet on the telescope’s official Twitter handle, one of the close-up images gives details about Huygens Crater, the dark volcano Syrtis Major and the Hellas Basin.

Webb’s first images of Mars were captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). These images show a region of the planet’s eastern hemisphere in two different wavelengths or colors of infrared light.

According to NASA, the Mars team will use this imaging and spectroscopic data to detect regional differences across the planet in the future. They will also see traces of various gases in the planet’s atmosphere.

Last month, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took some interesting pictures of Jupiter, with some spectacular auroras on the planet. These images were also clicked using the observatory’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).