The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) had been facing a troubling issue: blurry images. Fortunately, a group of Australian researchers has come to the rescue with a new AI algorithm, aiming to clarify the telescope’s observations. This breakthrough is especially important for astronomers keen on spotting exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy.
The tool in question is the Aperture Masking Interferometer (API). Led by Professor Peter Tuthill from the University of Sydney, the team designed API to enhance the clarity of one of JWST’s main instruments, the Near-InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS). By merging light from various parts of the main mirror, API aims to increase sensitivity and resolution, enabling the detection of tiny, dim exoplanets around distant stars. However, when astronomers first activated API, they were disappointed to find blurry images.
This problem echoed a historical glitch seen in Hubble Space Telescope, which, after its launch in 1990, produced fuzzy images due to a flawed primary mirror. Fixing Hubble required a costly manned mission to install corrective mirrors. In contrast, JWST orbits 930,000 miles from Earth, making such repairs impossible. No human has ever ventured that far into space.
The source of the blurriness in JWST’s images was traced back to distortions in signals from its infrared camera detector. To tackle this, two former Ph.D. students, Max Charles and Louis Desdoigts, created an AI called AMIGO (Aperture Masking Interferometry Generative Observations). This tool mimics how the brain works to identify and correct the problematic pixels, leading to much clearer images.
“Instead of sending astronauts to bolt on new parts, they managed to fix things with code,” Tuthill remarked in a statement. The team tested AMIGO on images of a faint exoplanet and a cool, low-mass star about 133 light-years away. They also succeeded in capturing detailed images of a black hole jet and Jupiter’s moon Io.
Desdoigts, now a postdoctoral researcher in the Netherlands, expressed excitement about the advancements, emphasizing that the software enhancement extends JWST’s scientific capabilities.
Since its launch in July 2022, JWST has transformed our understanding of astronomy, unveiling new insights about early galaxies and black holes. With API fully operational and the AI solution boosting its capabilities, JWST is on track for even more groundbreaking discoveries. This development highlights how technology can solve complex problems in ways that human missions cannot.
