File:New Webb Images Capture Rare View of Neptune’s Rings (Labeled).png

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Author	Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Image title	NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is showing off its capabilities closer to home with its first image of Neptune. Not only has Webb captured the clearest view of this peculiar planet’s rings in more than 30 years, but its cameras are also revealing the ice giant in a whole new light.Neptune, located 30 times farther from the sun than Earth, orbits in one of the dimmest areas of our solar system. High noon on Neptune would appear as a dim twilight does to us. This planet, characterized as an ice giant due to a hydrogen and helium-rich interior, has fascinated and perplexed researchers since its discovery via mathematics, not eyesight, in 1846.Most striking about Webb’s new image is the crisp view of the planet’s dynamic rings—some of which haven’t been seen at all, let alone with this clarity since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989. Visible in the outermost ring, Adam’s ring, in this Webb image are clumps of dust called ring arcs. These thicker bands of dust have been observed to split and evolve, and astronomers will use Webb to investigate why and how that process occurs.Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captures objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns. In the context of Neptune and other solar system gas giants, this means, with Webb, we’re able to study deeper into the planet’s turbulent atmosphere to learn more than ever before about circulation patterns, chemical composition, and atmospheric structure.This first image of Neptune reveals several key features of the ice giant’s atmosphere only visible in the infrared. Most prominent in the image are a series of bright patches representing methane-ice clouds. These clouds are high in the atmosphere and reflect the sun’s bright light. Images from other observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory, have recorded these rich, moving features over the years.More subtly, a thin line of brightness circling the planet’s equator is a visual signature of the global circulation of rising and falling material that powers Neptune’s winds and storms. At the equator warmer gases descend, glowing more brightly than the surrounding cooler gases.Neptune’s 164-year orbit means its northern pole, at the top of this image, has remained just out of view for astronomers for the most part–until now. Webb picks up an area of heightened brightness at the north pole area, hinting at some sort of atmospheric structure that could be investigated in future studies. A vortex swallowing part of the southern pole is also clearer in Webb’s view, showing signs of an extremely detailed, multi-faceted structure with a clear, continuous band of clouds surrounding it.Also photobombing Webb’s portrait of Neptune is a bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes in many of Webb’s images—not a star, but Neptune’s most unusual moon, Triton. Covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it.Webb also captured 6 more of Neptune’s 14 known moons as they follow a relatively close orbit around the planet.The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (EuropeanSpace Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
Short title	New Webb Images Capture Rare View of Neptune’s Rings
Credit/Provider	NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: STScI/J. DePasquale
Source	STScI
Usage terms	http://stsci.edu/copyright/
Date and time of data generation	21 September 2022
Color space	sRGB
Exif version	2.31
Image width	1,059 px
Image height	1,059 px
Bits per component	8 8 8
Height	1,059 px
Width	1,059 px
Pixel composition	RGB
Number of components	3
Horizontal resolution	71.98 dpi
Vertical resolution	71.98 dpi
Contact information	outreach@stsci.edu http://stsci.edu 3700 San Martin Drive Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA 410-338-4444
Keywords	Neptune
Date metadata was last modified	12:37, 7 September 2022
Unique ID of original document	BC961BB3FF494D26FFF6C016DF568451
File change date and time	12:13, 7 September 2022

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