NASA's James Webb Telescope's MIRI Captures Sharp Image Of Milky Way's Satellite Galaxy. What Makes It Special?

At a resolution of 7.7 microns, the MIRI test image shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, and shows the interstellar gas in unprecedented detail

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI has captured a sharper image of the Large Magellanic Cloud than the Spizter Space Telescope

Source : NASA

New Delhi: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is aligned across all four of its science instruments, which can be seen in a previous engineering image showing JWST's full field of view. The United States space agency released a series of images last month, which captures Webb's full field of view. With each of its four powerful onboard science instruments, the telescope is capable of capturing crisp, well-focused images. Now, NASA has taken a closer look at the same image, focusing on JWST's coldest instrument: the Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI.

What Makes The MIRI Image Special?

At a resolution of 7.7 microns, the MIRI test image shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way that provided a dense star field to test Webb's performance. 

Earlier, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera had captured an image of the same target at eight microns. NASA compared the images of the same object captured by instruments aboard two different telescopes. Webb captured a sharper image of that region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, hinting at new possibilities for science. 

The retired Spitzer Space Telescope was one of NASA's Great Observatories and the first to provide high-resolution images of the near- and mid-infrared universe, the space agency said on its website. 

Webb has a significantly larger primary mirror and improved detectors, which will allow the world to see the infrared sky with improved clarity. This will enable improved clarity and even more discoveries.

What Details Does The MIRI Image Reveal?

For instance, Webb's MIRI image shows the interstellar gas in unprecedented detail, and once can see the emission from "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" or molecules of carbon and hydrogen that play an important role in the thermal balance and chemistry of interstellar gas. After JWST begins science observations, studies such as these with MIRI will help give astronomers new insights into the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, according to NASA. 

The Webb team has started the process of setting up and testing Webb's instruments to begin science observations this summer. 

Webb, the most powerful and complex space observatory ever built, blasted off into space on Christmas last year, after decades of wait. 

The JWST is a large, space-based, infrared observatory, and a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Development of the $10 billion telescope began in 1996. The infrared telescope is the largest space observatory ever built, and the first of its kind. It was 100 times more powerful than Hubble, and was folded origami-style to fit in the rocket atop which it was launched. Webb is all set to unfold the universe, and will usher in a new era of astronomy.

The JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope will be a giant leap forward in our desire to understand the universe and its origins. It will examine every phase of cosmic history, from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets, and the evolution of our own solar system.