So the JW telescope can see billions of lightyears into the distance/past and see countless galaxies in the focal point of a grain of sand, but when it’s aimed at at Uranus or a closer planet, the photos are very low quality.
Why can’t a telescope that powerful capture a good image inside our own solar system?
I understand it sees different wavelengths to typical telescopes but why can’t it take a sharp photo of the light emitting from the planet that’s not blurry?
In: 11
The JWST is made to take images of things very far away. So it have gyroscopes that can keep a very accurate attitude when pointing at distant things by finely adjusting the direction. The problem is that these gyroscopes can only do the fine adjustments needed for imagery when moving incredibly slowly. This is fine for things that is very far away, but not for planets in our own solar system. Uranus is basically moving too fast for the JWST. If they take a normal image they get motion blur. So they take short duration photos, essentially “sports mode”, but these settings give more blurry photos.
Latest Answers