So far, only one spacecraft has studied Neptune and Uranus.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The James Webb Space Telescope will soon turn its attention to two interesting “ice giants,” namely planets Uranus and Neptune. The two planets will become targets after Webb releases its first operational images on July 12.
Webb’s keen eye and space location will be invaluable in discovering details about these two worlds. So far, only one spacecraft (Voyager 2) briefly explored the two planets in the 1980s.
Since then, scientists have been forced to use multiple telescopes to monitor the weather in the Neptune and Uranus. Scientists want observatories to study the composition and temperature of each atmosphere to find out how the circulation and weather patterns there.
As the community calls for missions to Uranus and Neptune, Webb represents an opportunity to view these worlds in high definition to learn more about their differences from Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune and Uranus are smaller. Both have interiors that are less hydrogen and helium-rich than Saturn and Jupiter.
“The main thing Webb can do that is very, very difficult to achieve from other facilities is map the temperature of the atmosphere and its chemical structure,” said study leader Leigh Fletcher, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester in the UK, in a release from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). ) in Baltimore, reported by SpaceAhad (10/7/2022).
“We thought that the weather and climate of the ice giants would have a fundamentally different character than the gas giants,” said Fletcher.
Webb’s mid-infrared wavelength range will allow researchers to distinguish between gases in the planet’s upper atmosphere.
