New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune's Rings in Decades

September 21, 2022 8:00AM (EDT)Release ID: 2022-046
Image has a mostly dark background with one extremely bright point of light that dominates the left side of the image and a glowing sphere in the right side of the image. The extremely bright point of light at the upper left of the image has 8 spikes pointing out from a center bright point like a compass. The glowing sphere, is mostly white, almost neon, with a few extremely bright patches representing methane-ice clouds.

Summary

Infrared Observations Tease Out Never Seen Atmospheric and Ring Details

Neptune lurks in one of the dimmest parts of our solar system. With its complex rings, bizarre moon, Triton, and roaring winds faster than the speed of sound here on Earth, Neptune has long perplexed astronomers. Just one spacecraft, Voyager 2, has ever visited this far-flung planet, and observations from both space- and ground-based telescopes over the years have tracked the many turbulent storms.

Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s first look at this ice giant is giving us a long-awaited glimpse of those crisp rings and teasing out details of its mysterious storms.

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