The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured this stunning image of Uranus, showing in great detail the ice giant’s ring system, its brightest moons, and its dynamic atmosphere.
The new observations, made on February 6, follow the same path Stunning photos JWST was recently caught from another ice giant in the solar system, Neptune.
the new one Uranus The image shows 11 of the 13 known planetary rings, some of which are so bright they are slightly fused. But what really astonishes astronomers are the facts JWSTThe Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument is sensitive enough to capture Uranus’ two deepest dusty rings.
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This faint ring can only be glimpsed by two other astronomical eyes – the eyes Cruise 2 spacecraft, which flew by Uranus in 1986, and most recently by the Keck Observatory Advanced Adaptive Optics.
When Voyager 2 photographed Uranus during its flight in 1986, it saw the planet as nothing more than a dull blue marble that lacked any features. This new JWST image is a stark contrast, it paints a dynamic and ever-changing picture of the world.
The JWST image was generated by combining data from two filters, which can be seen as blue coloring and orange highlights, respectively. The representative color image shows dense, icy liquids water, methane and ammonia atop a small rocky core formed by Uranus, which looks like a light blue snowball.
Uranus has a unique orbit in the solar system, as the ice giant rotates on its side, tilted at an angle of almost 90 degrees relative to its path around it. sun. This tilt causes Uranus to experience harsh seasons, with each pole being exposed to continuous sunlight for years before falling into darkness for an equal length of time.
It’s spring at Uranus’ north pole. This can be seen in the image, where the right side of the ice giant is illuminated in the Arctic ice cap, facing the sun. This is the first time scientists have seen this side of the polar cap; It was missing even from the follow up photos taken by Keck.
At the ends of the polar caps are bright clouds with some faint longitudinal features visible. It includes the second brightest cloud to the left of Uranus. Such clouds are typical of Uranus and can be seen at infrared wavelengths. JWST team members said it was suspected to be related to storm activity passing through the ice giant. Uranus’ north pole will experience summer starting in 2028.
Uranus’ south pole is currently on the planet’s dark side and not visible in the image, turning its back on the sun and into dark space.
JWST was able to capture six of Uranus’s 27 known moons while imaging the ice giant. This is the brightest month. Others are too dim to see in the relatively short exposure of 12 minutes.
Powerful space telescopes will continue to observe the ice giant. Follow-up investigations are expected to glimpse two faint outer dust rings, which were discovered by Hubble Space Telescope In 2007, said members of the expedition team.
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