NASA recently shared detailed images of Uranus, captured by the high-powered James Webb Space Telescope. The images revealed a stunning look at the planet's glowing rings and one rarely-seen feature. The images show the ice planet with nine of its 27 known moons, several inner and outer rings, and a changing polar cap. The very faint and diffuse Zeta ring, which is closest to the planet and appears reddish brown in the new images, is visible for the first time. A glowing blue colour was also recorded in multiple additional rings.
Sharing the images on Instagram, the American space agency wrote, "Seen here by @NASAWebb, ice giant Uranus is a dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, extreme seasons, and more. Webb's sensitivity has even captured the close-in Zeta ring: faint, diffuse, and elusive. These new images reveal detailed features of Uranus's seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. If humans want to send a spacecraft to visit Uranus up close, it's necessary to understand how to navigate debris from its rings."
It is to be noted that due to the planet's extreme 98-degree tilt, its seasons are extreme. Since the Sun only shines on one pole for 25 per cent of the year, half the planet experiences a dark, 21-Earth-year winter. "With Webb's unparalleled infrared resolution and sensitivity, astronomers now see Uranus and its unique features with groundbreaking new clarity. These details, especially of the close-in Zeta ring, will be invaluable to planning any future missions to Uranus," NASA said.
In May this year, NASA said that some of Uranus' moons may have deep oceans lurking beneath their ice-capped surfaces. They added that two of them namely Titania and Oberon may even have water warm enough to support life.
In the 27 moons that circle Uranus, the four largest range from Ariel, at 720 miles (1,160 kilometres) across, to Titania, which is 980 miles (1,580 kilometres) across. Scientists have long thought that Titania, given its size, would be most likely to retain internal heat, caused by radioactive decay. The other moons had previously been widely considered too small to retain the heat necessary to keep an internal ocean from freezing, especially because heating created by the gravitational pull of Uranus is only a minor source of heat, the release by NASA said.
