Overview: Giving James Webb a sharper cosmic sight
When NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021, its success depended on keeping a razor-sharp view of the cosmos from a distance of about a million miles. A team of Australian researchers has now boosted Webb’s clarity by applying software corrections that recover lost detail, enabling the telescope to detect faint celestial objects with greater confidence.
The challenge inside Webb: AMI and pixel leakage
Researchers from the University of Sydney focused on JWST’s Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI), a small metal plate tucked inside one of the telescope’s cameras that helps detect optical distortions. Led by PhD student Louis Desdoigts, the team found a subtle, yet serious, problem: bright pixels were “leaking” into nearby dark ones. This leakage blurred images and limited Webb’s ability to distinguish dim planets from nearby bright stars.
Why AMI matters
The AMI contributes to high-resolution measurements by encoding parts of the image in a way that makes it easier to reconstruct the final view. When leakage occurs, delicate features—such as faint companions to stars—can be washed out. The Australian team treated the problem as a solvable optical model, rather than a mystery of the telescope’s overall performance.
From model to machine learning: Reclaiming the full resolution
To address the leakage, the researchers built a detailed model of AMI’s optical behavior and then trained a machine learning system to reverse the leakage. The result was an open‑source correction software that restores AMI’s full resolution power, allowing Webb to reprocess archival data and new observations with improved sharpness.
First demonstrations: Clearer images of known targets
Applying the correction, Webb produced clearer images of the star HD 206893, exposing a faint planet and a reddish-brown dwarf that had previously eluded detection. The improvement was not simply incremental; it unlocked details that could shift how astronomers interpret nearby planetary systems and their environments.
Expanding the technique: From planets to galaxies
Encouraged by the initial success, co-researcher Max Charles extended the approach to more complex targets. With the enhanced software, Webb imaged features of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io and monitored eruptions with sharper precision. The team also refined views of a black-hole jet in galaxy NGC 1068 and revealed dust structures around the massive star WR 137. These cases demonstrate the versatility of the correction in studying diverse cosmic phenomena—from planets to supermassive black holes.
Why software fixes matter for JWST’s future
Webb operates about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, making physical maintenance impossible. Consequently, software-based calibration and data processing are essential for ongoing performance improvements. The Australian initiative illustrates how targeted, open-source corrections can extend the telescope’s reach and maximize the scientific returns of long-duration missions.
The path forward
With the technique proven, the team is likely to see broader adoption across Webb’s data streams. As more astronomers apply the AMI correction to their observations, the telescope’s already impressive capability to discern faint companions, dust structures, and jet features could yield new discoveries about planetary formation, stellar evolution, and the environments surrounding black holes.
Impact on collaborative space science
This effort underscores a growing trend in astronomy: collaborative, cross-institutional problem solving that combines physical modeling with machine learning. By sharing their open-source software, the University of Sydney team invites other researchers to test, validate, and extend the approach across a wider array of targets and wavelengths. In an era where space telescopes generate vast datasets, such accessible tools accelerate discovery while preserving Webb’s remarkable observational power.
