New images of Uranus’ rings captured by the Webb telescope. Some rings appear to merge due to excessive brightness/NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI./J. DePasquale
2023.04.11 Tue posted at 20:26 JST
（ＣＮＮ） NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new look at the ‘ice giant’ Uranus. The stunning image reveals nearly all of Uranus’ vague rings of dust.
NASA said the images show the sensitivity of the Webb telescope. The fainter rings were so far seen only by the Voyager 2 spacecraft and the Keck Observatory, which sits on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Uranus has 13 known rings. A new image from the Webb telescope shows 11 of them. Nine are classified as main rings, but the other two are more difficult to capture due to their dust-like nature and were first discovered by Voyager 2’s flyby in 1986.
An image of Uranus from the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and a higher resolution image of Uranus from the James Webb Space Telescope/NASA/NASA
The faint outer ring, not visible in this image, was spotted in 2007 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists hope the Webb telescope will eventually catch them too.
“The ring system can tell us a lot about the origin and composition of the planets,” Dr. Naomi Rogarney, a Webb telescope observer of the solar system at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in an email. He noted Uranus’ features, such as its slanted axis and lack of internal heat, and any clues about its history would be of great value, he said.
Rogarney also hopes Webb will reveal more about the composition of Uranus’ atmosphere.
The Webb Telescope uses a powerful near-infrared camera. We succeeded in detecting infrared light that otherwise would be invisible.