On Friday, NASA continued to increase publicity for next week’s image release from the Webb Space Telescope by announcing the five objects in the first image cache. Some of the targets are exactly what you would expect, given what scientists have said they want to use the telescope to make images, while they have probably chosen a couple because they will produce fantastic images.
The goal list also shows NASA’s thoughts on how it can get informational data as quickly as possible. Below we will give a little information about each of the objectives.
WASP-96 b: One of the most interesting features of Webb is its ability to analyze the composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets. When a planet passes between its host star and Earth, some of the star’s light will pass through its atmosphere, allowing materials in the atmosphere to absorb specific wavelengths in the star’s light. This signal is small because only a small fraction of the star’s light will pass through the atmosphere, so it will usually take months of observation to get a good signal.
Announcements
WASP-96 b allows us to get a good signal much faster, as it is a planet composed mostly of atmosphere. Although it has about half the mass of Jupiter, it is physically larger, indicating that it is made mostly of gas. It also has an orbital period of only 3.4 days, which means we can imagine its atmosphere twice a week. NASA will show the infrared spectrum of light that has passed through the atmosphere and will no doubt highlight the spectral signatures of the molecules in the planet’s atmosphere.
The Carina Nebula: It will probably be a “show only” image. The Carina Nebula is a huge cloud of gas illuminated by the massive stars that are forming inside it. It is home to the brightest star we have identified in the Milky Way, as well as Eta Carinae, my favorite candidate for “most likely to become a supernova.” The star was so close to being destroyed in a massive eruption about 175 years ago that it formed a nebula within the Carina Nebula.
This image will look spectacular. And here’s potentially interesting science to do. Webb should have the resolution to work out smaller-scale structures within the nebula and perhaps even determine gas flow in some regions based on changes in the spectrum caused by the change in red and blue. Finally, Webb may be able to detect some interesting molecules in the colder areas of the nebula. But I suspect it will take a while to get down from the awesome aspects of the image before anyone pays attention to science.