The James Webb Space Telescope recently took a surprisingly detailed image of the planet Neptune. For example, the rings of Neptune are clearly visible. These light rings of dust are not nearly as apparent as those of the other planets. So he was unaware of the professional world for a long time. The Voyager 2 space probe gave the first complete images when it flew by Neptune in 1989.
Bright lines around the equator may be visible signatures of Neptune’s winds and atmospheric circulation driving storms. The ice planet’s north pole is no longer visible, but this region appears unusually bright on binoculars, as far as can be seen. The planet’s southern hemisphere also has bright spots: these are called high-altitude methane ice clouds that block sunlight, reflect off.
Also interesting: James Webb Telescope Sends Spectacular Images of Cartwheel Galaxy
The image shows seven of the planet’s fourteen known moons, including the satellite Triton, in its retrograde orbit. It may have originally come from the Kuiper Belt and at some point has entered the orbit of Neptune due to gravitational pull.
James Webb Space Telescope set to explore universe’s past
Neptune appears blue in the visible light spectrum, but the image was taken in the near-infrared spectrum, where methane gas absorbs red and infrared wavelengths. Since the James Webb Space Telescope takes pictures in the infrared range, it should be able to see particularly far into the past of the universe. Distant galaxies and stars shine in this spectrum because their white light is dispersed by the expanse of space-time.
“JWST” relies on a 6.5 m mirror with a gold-plated surface and can record wavelengths in the range of 0.6 to 28 micrometres. The telescope is a joint project of space agencies from Europe (ESA), the United States (NASA) and Canada (CSA). On 25 December 2021, after some delay, it was launched on an Ariane launch vehicle from French Guiana. The nearly ten billion dollar project is believed to be the successor to the Hubble Telescope, which has been in service for 30 years now.
Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun. It takes 164 years to complete one revolution around the Sun. At a distance of about 50,000 km, Neptune has about four times the diameter of Earth and also 58 times the volume of Earth. It is the fourth largest planet in the Solar System after Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus and one of the ice giants. It was named after the Roman god of the seas and rivers.
