NASA's James Webb telescope, described as the world's most powerful telescope, captured some stunning images of our universe last year, captivating space enthusiasts. Now, the telescope has captured a stunning image of Saturn's iconic rings. This infrared image of Saturn also reveals surprising patterns in its atmosphere as the rings appear to glow eerily.
"Saturn itself appears extremely dark at this infrared wavelength observed by the telescope, as methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling on the atmosphere. However, the icy rings stay relatively bright, leading to the unusual appearance of Saturn in the Webb image," NASA stated.
Describing the image, NASA wrote on Instagram, "Two-part swipe through of a Webb image of Saturn, its rings and moons. The background is mostly dark. Saturn is seen as a dark orange-brown circle (split between the two images), surrounded by several blazing bright, thick, horizontal whiteish rings."
The image was taken by the James Webb telescope during a 20-hour Saturn observational operation. Several extremely long exposures of Saturn were included in the programme in order to test the telescope's ability to pick up faint moons orbiting the planet and its rings. "Any newly discovered moons might aid in the construction of a more complete picture of Saturn's history and present systems," the space agency stated. The picture also highlights Enceladus, Dione and Tethys, three of Saturn's 145 known moons.
According to NASA, some unexpected detail can also be seen in Saturn's atmosphere. This is the first time the planet's atmosphere has been spotted with this clarity at a wavelength of 3.23 microns, which is exclusive to the Webb telescope.
It is to be noted that this view lacks the distinctive striped pattern that is usually observed from Saturn's deeper atmospheric layers because the vast, dark, diffuse features in the northern hemisphere do not follow the planet's lines of latitude.
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