The James Webb Telescope shows the rings of Neptune

Posted On: September 23, 2022

Not only are the rings visible in the photos, but seven of its many moons can also be identified.

Infrared vision from the new telescope reveals the icy giant Neptune in a whole new light, says the European Space Agency (ESA), which is participating in James Webb with US NASA and Canadian CSA.

The images give a clear view of its rings, some never seen before and others not seen in such detail since the Voyager 2 space probe came closest to the planet in 1989, and clearly show the bands of weaker dust surrounding the planet.

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Neptune, discovered in 1846, is thirty times farther from the Sun than Earth and orbits in one of the darkest parts of the solar system. A noon there is similar to a faint twilight on Earth, recalls the ESA.

Webb also captured seven of Neptune’s fourteen known moons, and the image shows a very bright point of light with the characteristic diffraction peaks seen in many telescope images, but it’s not a star, it’s the most unusual moon on the planet, Triton.

This image obtained from NASA on September 21, 2022 and taken by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows Neptune’s rings and a series of bright spots in the planet’s southern hemisphere that represent methane ice at large altitude scale. Photo: Space Telescope Science Institute / ESA/WEBB / AFP

Covered in an icy sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average of 70% of incoming sunlight, far exceeding Neptune, as the planet’s atmosphere is darkened by the absorption of methane at Webb wavelengths. .

Triton has a strange retrograde orbit around Neptune, leading astronomers to speculate that this moon was actually a Kuiper Belt object gravitationally captured by the planet.

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Additional studies on Triton and Neptune are planned for next year, recalls the ESA note.

Neptune is characterized as an ice giant due to the chemical composition of its interior, which is evident in the characteristic blue appearance of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope – predecessor to the James Webb – in visible wavelengths, caused by small amounts of methane gas.

This image shows Neptune and seven of its 14 known satellites. Triton, the bright point of light in the upper left, eclipses Neptune, as the planet's atmosphere is obscured by methane absorption wavelengths captured by Webb. Photo: Space Telescope Science Institute / ESA/WEBB / AFP — This image shows Neptune and seven of its 14 known satellites. Triton, the bright point of light in the upper left, eclipses Neptune, as the planet’s atmosphere is obscured by methane absorption wavelengths captured by Webb. Photo: Space Telescope Science Institute / ESA/WEBB / AFP

In Webb’s images, thanks to his near-infrared camera, Neptune does not appear blue. Additionally, a thin line of brightness is seen around the planet’s equator, which could be a visual signature of the global atmospheric circulation driving the planet’s winds and storms.

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Neptune’s 164-year orbit means its north pole is just out of sight of astronomers, but Webb’s images suggest “an intriguing glow in that area.”

A previously known vortex at the south pole is evident in Webb’s view, but for the first time revealed a continuous band of cloud surrounding it.