James Web and Mars

 James Web and Mars --- See anything new?

James Webb Telescope's image of Mars after Jupiter in our solar system. 

Did you see something new? 

No, there is nothing new, we already know everything that has been said. 

Carbon dioxide, water, clouds, craters, atmospheric composition, temperature distribution are all what the Lander, Rover and Orbiter on the Red Planet have already told us, so what is the use of James Webb?

James Webb visited Mars on September 5 and viewed its sunward side with his NIRCam camera and imaged it using 2 frequencies of infrared (2.1 and 4.3 micrometers). 

Because the sunlight is reflected from Mars and coming to the James Web and the James Web is not designed for so much light, the light coming from Mars was given to the camera for a very short exposure time. 

Depleted by heat which is called Detector Saturation.

A brief overview of the images

Now let's take a look at this picture briefly, then let me tell you about the superiority of James Webb's first pictures. 

The first image (the MOLA instrument) is an earlier image taken by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter that was carried on the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter (1997 to 2006). 

Reference this image to James Webb's photo let's see. 

You see 3 areas: Hellas Basin, Syrtis Major, and Huygens Crater. 

The three can be compared in the James Webb and MOLA images. 2.1 In the micrometer filter (Top Right), the James Webb image is the same as a normal camera image. It shows the black lava marks of Syrtis Major, the rim of Huygens Crater. 

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In the 4.3 micrometer filter (right bottom) there is a lot of heat escaping from the surface of Mars, but a different thing is that the Hellas Basin looks a little darker in color. 

Because of the high heat loss from the Martian atmosphere, the second image shows spectroscopy of compounds in the Martian atmosphere using the NIRSpec camera.

What priority will James Webb have?

All the missions that have been to Mars have been able to see a very small area, for example the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have so far traveled only 28 and 12 km, which does not explore the maximum area of ​​Mars. 

The Mars Orbiter (LRO) can also cover a very small area at a time. 

James Webb would have the advantage of being able to see a large part of Mars in a short time and its land, ice clouds, storms,

Its rocks, its plains, the changes in its atmosphere caused by day and night, and the changes in the seasons, how much the sun's heat affects which regions of Mars, James will be able to do with a picture. 

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In fact, these images were just an experiment that confirmed James Webb's data with data from the rest of the missions. 

What the missions there would do in years, James Webb would do in a few days.

The Mars image analysis is part of the Cycle 1 Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) program in which James Webb will examine the Solar System.

Sources:

GSFC/NASA/ESA/JWST