JWST Observations of the Jovian System from Commissioning and ERS data

New observations of the Jovian system have been obtained with JWST during commissioning operations between June 28 and July 14; Early Release Science data will be taken in July-August. In this talk we present the first results of these data sets. NIRCam images of Jupiter show an incredible amount of detail over the Jupiter disc in images at 2.12 and 3.23 microns sensitive to tropospheric and stratospheric hazes. Both wavelength images revealed an intriguing illuminated layer above the dusk terminator: there is an ongoing debate about the origins of this feature, potentially caused by stratospheric hazes or H₃⁺ emissions (see also Sromovsky et al). The rings and small satellites show up clearly at these wavelengths. MIRI spectroscopic observations reveal elevated stratospheric temperatures within the southern auroral oval, with high-quality spectra obtained between 5-14 μm revealing a wealth of absorptions from ammonia and emissions from methane and other hydrocarbons. We expect ERS NIRSpec data on Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, and more NIRCam images of the planet and its rings on July 27-29. Context for these new JWST datasets have been provided by numerous ground-based observatories and HST, from the UV to the mid-infrared. In addition, observations of Io (NIRSpec, MIRI, NIRISS/AMI) and Ganymede (NIRSpec, MIRI) will be taken by JWST in the coming months.

Image credit:

NASA / ESA / CSA / Judy Schmidt