File:Mars Is Mighty in First Webb Observations of Red Planet.png

English: The James Webb Space Telescope just got its first look at Mars! 👀

Webb’s unique perspective is meant to complement the work that rovers and other missions do. From where it sits, Webb can study short-term events like dust storms, weather patterns, seasonal changes and more. Please note that these images are from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.

The left side of the graphic here shows a close-up of Mars as taken by Webb’s NIRCam instrument at shorter wavelengths of infrared light. Check out surface details of Mars like the Huygens Crater, dark volcanic Syrtis Major, and the brighter Hellas Basin.

The right side is a "heat map" taken by NIRCam at longer wavelengths of infrared light. It shows thermal emission, or the light given off by the planet as it loses heat. Here, the brightest spot is due to the Sun being nearly overhead. The planet’s poles receive less sunlight, while the northern hemisphere is experiencing winter, so they are all less bright.

Why do Webb's images of Mars look so different? Webb was built to detect faint light from distant galaxies. Mars, one of the brightest objects in the night sky, was challenging to observe! Scientists had to use special techniques to avoid Webb being flooded with infrared light.

Read more about Webb’s observations of Mars: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/09/19/mars-is-mighty-in-first-we...

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Mars JWST/GTO team

Image description: Graphic of Webb’s 2 NIRCam instrument images of Mars, taken on Sept. 5, 2022. The image on the left side, titled “Close-Up,” shows 2.1 micron reflected sunlight. This image is mostly mottled dark brown, with 3 lighter brown patches at the top right, top left, and bottom left corners. A gradient color code explains these lighter areas are brighter. Geographic features Syrtis Major, Huygens Crater and Hellas Basin are labeled. The image on the right, titled “Heat Map,” shows ~4.3 micron light that is being given off as heat is lost on Mars. Darker, cooler regions are represented by purple and red, with orange and yellow representing brighter, warmer regions. Mars’ poles and northern hemisphere are purple. There is a large yellow portion on the left half where the Sun is nearly overhead. A label that says “Subsolar Point” points to this region. A small orange patch within the yellow area is labeled as “Hellas Basin,” and it is darker due to atmospheric effects.