Webb’s first look at Mars 👀 From where it sits, Webb can study short-term events like dust storms, weather patterns, and more on Mars — complementing rovers and other missions! Why do Webb's images of Mars look so different? Webb was built to detect faint light from distant galaxies, so Mars, which is extremely bright, was challenging to observe. Scientists had to use special techniques to avoid Webb being flooded with light. Let’s dive in: Slide 2: This Mars close-up was taken by Webb’s NIRCam instrument. It shows 2.1-micron reflected sunlight, revealing surface details like craters and dust layers. The image is mostly a mottled dark brown, with 3 lighter brown patches at the top right, top left, and bottom left corners. As explained by the color code, these lighter areas are brighter. Arrows point to labeled geographic features: Syrtis Major (dark volcanic rock), Huygens Crater, and the Hellas Basin. Slide 3: Also taken by NIRCam, this “heat map” shows ~4.3-micron light being given off as heat is lost on Mars. Darker, cooler regions, like Mars’ poles and northern hemisphere, are represented by purple and red. Orange and yellow represent brighter, warmer regions. There is a large yellow portion on the left half where the Sun is nearly overhead. An orange patch within that yellow is the Hellas Basin, darker due to atmospheric effects. Slide 4: What's in the Martian atmosphere? Webb's NIRSpec instrument has detected signatures of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water. By analyzing this data, scientists can also know more about the dust, clouds, and surface features of Mars. Here, the x-axis is “Wavelength of Light,” ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 microns. The y-axis shows “Brightness of Light (reflected and emitted).” Data is represented by a white line with dynamic peaks and dips. A purple best-fit line is overlaid on top. There are 5 signatures of carbon dioxide (highlighted as yellow vertical stripes), plus 1 signature of carbon monoxide (thick red stripe) and 1 signature of water (thin blue stripe). *These images are from Webb science in progress and have not been through peer review. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Mars JWST/GTO team