James Webb took an unprecedented photograph of Uranus with its 13 rings

The James Webb Space Telescope aimed at the mysterious Uranus and, as always, did not disappoint with the result. NASA’s powerful instrument, equipped with today’s best technology, captures images like never before. a series of 13 rings of the ice giant and several of its moons.

Until this year, Uranus had only been photographed twice. The first photograph was taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, and then by the ground-based Keck Observatory for the first time in 2004. The planet was a blue ball for us, calm and solid. But James Webb changed this image.

The powerful telescope gave us its first postcard of Uranus last April. An impressive image, however, only 11 of his 13 rings could be seen. The other two rings of Uranus, the outermost ones, were not imaged because they are very faint.

James Webb has now taken advantage of his infrared light sensors to show us more detailed information. than what he showed earlier. And finally, he exposed the last two elusive rings of Uranus, the seventh planet in our system from the Sun. He also took pictures of many of the 27 known moons and even saw several small moons inside the rings.

Other new details NASA revealed related to seasonal cloudiness at the planet’s north pole. Compared to Webb’s image from last April, some aspects of the cap are now easier to see. These include a bright white inner cap and a dark stripe at the bottom of the polar cap, towards lower latitudes.

Uranus, a cold giant with many rings.

Uranus is very cold and windy. It is distinguished by its rarity: It rotates at an angle of almost 90 degrees relative to the plane of its orbit. This tilt makes it appear as if the planet is turning on its side. Because of this mode of rotation, Uranus has the most extreme seasons in the solar system.

For nearly a quarter of every Uranian year, the Sun shines at one pole, plunging the other half of the planet into a dark winter that lasts 21 years. And that’s what A day lasts just over 17 hours, and a year on Earth is equivalent to 84 years.

The new James Webb image shows several bright storms near and below the southern edge of the polar cap, NASA explained in a statement. The number, frequency, and location of these storms in Uranus’s atmosphere may be due to a combination of seasonal and meteorological effects.

The polar cap becomes more visible as the planet’s pole begins to point toward the Sun, as the solstice approaches and receives more sunlight. Uranus will reach its next solstice in 2028. That’s why astronomers are keen to observe any possible changes in the structure of these features.

The atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, but also contains large amounts of water, ammonia and methane. Uranium is greenish-blue because it contains large amounts of methane, which absorbs red light but allows blue light to be reflected into space.

Details revealed by James Webb’s technology, such as those of the nearby Zeta ring, will be key to planning future missions to Uranus. The planet also serves as a model for scientists to study. almost 2,000 similarly sized exoplanets discovered in recent decades.