![]() ![]() Observations in this mode have been paused by the Webb team as they determine a path forward. This mechanism is a grating wheel that allows scientists to select between short, medium, and longer wavelengths when making observations using the MRS mode,” according to an update from the Webb blog run by NASA. 24, a mechanism that supports one of these modes, known as medium-resolution spectroscopy (MRS), exhibited what appears to be increased friction during setup for a science observation. Meanwhile, the Webb team is assessing an issue with one of MIRI’s four observing modes. James Webb Space Telescope captures strikingly crisp images of Neptune and its rings Such methane-ice clouds are prominent as bright streaks and spots, which reflect sunlight before it is absorbed by methane gas. In fact, the methane gas so strongly absorbs red and infrared light that the planet is quite dark at these near-infrared wavelengths, except where high-altitude clouds are present. Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, so Neptune does not appear blue to Webb. (Absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature on the thermodynamic scale). ![]() The MIRI instrument is kept the coldest at minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 266 degrees Celsius) – only 7 degrees Celsius warmer than absolute zero. To function, all of Webb’s instruments must be kept extremely cold, because even slightly warm objects can emit their own infrared light and distort an image. Together, these two views of the same galaxy reveal more about its composition and structure. Webb’s ability to detect infrared light can penetrate interstellar dust. Ultraviolet and visible light can be scattered by interstellar dust, so the dust-heavy regions appear darker in Hubble’s view. The difference in a side-by-side comparison of the images is due to the galaxy’s dusty regions. The images reveal different stars, depending on the detectable wavelengths of each telescope. “The Hubble image shows dark regions that seem to separate the spiral arms, whereas the Webb image shows more of a continual tangle of structures that echo the spiral arms’ shape,” according to the release. The Hubble Space Telescope previously observed the galaxy in ultraviolet and visible light using its Wide Field Camera 3. (Infrared is the term scientists use to refer to light that has wavelengths longer than humans can detect with the naked eye.) MIRI is the only Webb instrument that is sensitive to light on mid-infrared wavelengths, a type of wavelength that can only be observed by telescopes outside of Earth’s atmosphere. To capture the image, the Webb telescope used its Mid-InfraRed Instrument, or MIRI, one of the observatory’s four powerful tools to investigate the cosmos, according to the release. IC 5332 is “notable for being almost perfectly face-on with respect to Earth, allowing us to admire the symmetrical sweep of its spiral arms,” according to a press release from the European Space Agency. The galaxy, named IC 5332, stretches about 66,000 light-years wide, making it about one-third the size of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The “bones” of the galaxy, typically obscured from view by dust, are on full display. A dazzling spiral galaxy located 29 million light-years from Earth appears in “unprecedented detail” in a new image released by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. ![]()
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