Space Telescope Reveals Neptune's Ghostly Rings in Stunning Detail
The James Webb Space Telescope shared a new image of Neptune, its moons, and rings.
The James Webb Space Telescope continues to show off like that kid in high school who could juggle bowling pins. Though, this time, instead of peering deep into the universe's past, it has trained its eye on an object inside our solar system.
The telescope has unveiled its first image of Neptune. The European Space Agency, who has partnered on the James Webb with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, says this is the clearest view of Neptune and its rings that we have seen in more than 30 years.
The view of the ghostly cold planet and its ethereal rings is almost haunting in its clarity. The last time its rings were seen so clearly—some of which haven’t been seen at all—was during the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989, per the ESA. The new image not only reveals Neptune's rings, but its faint dust bands as it traverses its 164-year orbit.
The planet does not quite have the clout of close neighbors like Venus and Mars or the solar system's biggest residents, Saturn and Jupiter. Yet, it is mysterious and beautiful all the same. It sits 30 times further from the sun than Earth. At such a great distance, the sun is small and dim. The ESA says that high noon on Neptune is about as bright as a "dim twilight" here on Earth.
The ice giant has typically been seen as a blue planet in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb, however, views the planet in near-infrared light (0.6 to 5 microns). So, it does not appear blue to the new space telescope. The ESA says that the planet's methane gas absorbs so strongly that it looks dark at the wavelengths in which the Webb views it except when high-altitude methane-ice clouds are present. Those clouds appear as bright streaks and spots, reflecting sunlight that has not had the opportunity to be absorbed by methane gas.
The new image also reveals seven of Neptune's 14 moons, including the mysterious Triton, which is the brightest of the moons in this image. The ESA says that it is brightest is due to it reflecting an average of 70% of the sunlight that strikes the moon, as it is covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen.
Both Neptune and Triton, which oddly moves in a retrograde motion around the distant planet, will be the subjects of further study by the James Webb Space Telescope over the coming year.