The Webb Space Telescope team continues to commission the 17 science instrument modes. They recently asked Nathalie Ouellette of the Université de Montréal to give more detail about the modes of the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), Canada’s scientific instrument on Webb. “NI
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the most powerful infrared science observatory ever to be sent into space. From its orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, Webb will study some of the most distant objects in the universe. Credit: NASA. They recently asked Nathalie Ouellette of the Université de Montréal to give more detail about the modes of the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph , Canada’s scientific instrument on Webb.
With SOSS mode, the NIRISS instrument will be able to study the atmospheres of exoplanets as they pass in front of their star using a technique called transit spectroscopy. The spectrum observed by NIRISS will act like an alien barcode, indicating the presence of certain atoms and molecules.
The dispersed image of the cluster as seen with the F115W filter and the GR150C grism. Individual spectra appear as the corresponding galaxy smeared horizontally. Credit: Chris Willott/National Research Council Canada, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre