James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are showing Neptune “in a whole new light,” according to NASA, who published the latest offerings of its $10 billion space-travelling observatory on Wednesday.Before it captured Neptune on camera, the JWST was impressing the public with stellar photography of nebulas and galaxies in deep space.
Now, it has turned its gaze back inwards to our solar system and captured a shot that might challenge your perception of the distant ice giant.The images show Neptune with a luminous surface and two bright rings, spotted with numerous moons.
NASA says they have captured the “clearest view” of Neptune in more than 30 years, when Voyager 2 observed Neptune for the first time during its flyby in 1989.The telescope is providing scientists with an unprecedented glimpse at Neptune’s atmosphere — its bright streaks and spots actually being high-altitude clouds of methane gas reflecting the distant sunlight.
The sun is so distant, in fact, that NASA says “high noon on Neptune is similar to a dim twilight on Earth.” Cosmic cliffs, dancing galaxies: James Webb Telescope’s 1st photos dazzle Mark McCaughrean, a senior advisor for science and exploration at the European Space Agency, told AFP that with the James Webb telescope “we can start to tease out the atmospheric composition” of the planet because Webb’s imaging “takes all that glare and background away.”When the Hubble telescope and Voyager both photographed Neptune, its surface appeared blue because of all the methane gas in its atmosphere absorbing red light.