James Webb Space Telescope takes a striking image of Jupiter

The world's most powerful space observatory can capture detailed views of our solar system and beyond

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  Uranus is surrounded by 13 rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. Photo: Nasa

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  Complex organic molecules similar to smoke or smog in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years from Earth. Photo: Nasa

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  A delicate image of dust structures and bright star clusters taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Photo: Nasa

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  Saturn has seven rings with several gaps and divisions between them, as well as 53 known moons. Photo: Nasa

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  Star cluster NGC 346, spiral galaxies NGC 1672 and Messier 74, and the Pillars of Creation, towering tendrils of cosmic dust and gas at the heart of the Eagle Nebula. Photo: Nasa

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  An infrared image of Neptune, the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye. Photo: Nasa

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  Every eight years, the two stars in this image are brought together by their orbits – creating colliding streams of gas that, under the right conditions, form a new ring of dust. Photo: Nasa

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  A part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. Photo: Nasa

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  A crowded field of galaxies, along with stars crowned with the James Webb Space Telescope's signature six-pointed diffraction spikes. Photo: Nasa

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  The NGC 3256 spiral galaxy was formed after a collision of two massive galaxies about 500 million years ago. Photo: Nasa

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  The Wolf-Rayet 124 star, featured in an image combining near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths of light. Photo: Nasa

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  An hourglass-shaped cloud of dust and gas is illuminated by light from a protostar. Photo: Nasa

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  Two views of the Southern Ring Nebula, which show the planetary nebula as a misshapen oval. Photo: Nasa

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  A composite image of the Cartwheel Galaxy captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in August 2022. AFP

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  A cluster of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, near the Milky Way. Photo: JWST

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  A colour composite image of the Messier 74 galaxy. Photo: JWST

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  The gravity of galaxy cluster MACS0647 bends and magnifies light from the more distant MACS0647-JD. Photo: Nasa

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  The 'Pillars of Creation' — clouds of hydrogen gas and dust 6,500 light years from Earth — captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, left, and James Webb Space Telescope. AP

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  Dust rings resembling a fingerprint created by a rare type of star and its companion. PA

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  Images of the asteroid Dimorphos hours after Nasa crashed a spacecraft into it in September 2022. EPA

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  Neptune and seven of its 14 known moons. AFP

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  Thousands of young stars in a stellar nursery called the Tarantula Nebula. Photo: Nasa

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  A image of an exoplanet — a gas giant with no rocky surface. Photo: Nasa, ESA and CSA

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  Glass-z13, the oldest galaxy to be detected, was formed about 300 million years after the Big Bang. Photo: JWST

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  Jupiter and its moon Europa. Photo: Nasa

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  Jupiter and its moons Europa, Thebe and Metis. Photo: Nasa

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  Another image of Jupiter and some of its 79 moons. Photo: Nasa

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  An image of galaxy cluster Smacs 0723 taken by the James Webb telescope. Photo: Nasa

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  Stephan’s Quintet is an area in space that has five galaxies. Photo: JWST

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  The 'Cosmic Cliffs' of the Carina Nebula. Photo: JWST

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  An anniversary image shows the birth of a star in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Photo: Nasa

A striking image of Jupiter, our solar system’s largest planet, was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

It shows the planet’s giant rings and its icy moon, Europa.

On Tuesday, the first set of images from the world’s most powerful space observatory was released. They included views of galaxy clusters, stars' births and deaths and the atmosphere of an enormous gas planet.

But, the $10 billion telescope is also observing planets in our solar system, with a photo of Jupiter taken as a test shot before science operations began.

Bryan Holler, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, who helped to plan these observations, said that the image demonstrates the telescope's capabilities.

“Combined with the deep field images released the other day, these images of Jupiter demonstrate what Webb can observe, from the faintest, most distant observable galaxies to planets in our own cosmic backyard that you can see with the naked eye from your actual backyard,” he said.

The image shows some of the features the gas giant is famous for, including its Great Red Spot, a high-pressure region in its atmosphere that is big enough to swallow the Earth.

On the left of the planet, Europa is visible, a moon that is likely to have an ocean below its icy crust.

Other visible moons in these images include Thebe and Metis.

Stefanie Milam, Webb’s deputy project scientist for planetary science at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, said the telescope’s abilities were “exciting”.

“I couldn’t believe that we saw everything so clearly and how bright they were,” she said.

“It’s really exciting to think of the capability and opportunity that we have for observing these kinds of objects in our solar system.”

The images helped to prove that Webb can observe satellites and rings near bright solar system objects such as Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

Scientists will use the telescope to explore questions of whether we can see plumes of material spewing out of moons like Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Webb may also be able to see the signatures of plumes depositing material on the surface on Europa.

“I think that’s just one of the coolest things that we’ll be able to do with this telescope in the solar system,” Dr Milam said.

The telescope was launched on Christmas Day 2021, from a spaceport in French Guiana.

It will observe galaxies that formed almost 13.8 billion years ago, shortly after the Big Bang.

It will also capture data on atmospheres of planets outside of our solar system, referred to as exoplanets.

Scientists hope that the observations will help answer questions about the universe, including life beyond Earth and the evolution of the universe.