![]() ![]() ![]() Neptune’s Ghostly Rings Are Caught by NASA’s Webb Now, with business all out of the way, it’s time to dive into what we’re learning from the latest round of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and what they’re revealing about one of the most unusual planets in our solar system. And as always, you’ll find a complete listing of our recent stories at the end of this week’s newsletter. Also, while you’re at our YouTube Channel, be sure to check out all of the latest episodes of our flagship podcast, Rebelliously Curious with Chrissy Newton, which you can now also subscribe to on Apple Podcasts and all of your favorite podcasting apps. Meanwhile in video news, could MIT’s MOXIE device be the future of oxygen production on Mars? Our very own Kenna Castleberry recently caught up with the lead MIT scientist overseeing this aspect of the Pereseverance rover’s mission to find out. Also, MJ Banias explains why a “ghost ship” loaded with 1.14 million barrels of oil could soon play host to one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters. Elsewhere, Chris Plain reports on a recently fallen meteorite containing water that is undeniably extraterrestrial has been found for the first time in the U.K. government’s system of classified information. – Heidi Hammelīefore we get into the thick of what has NASA’s Webb team-and the rest of the astronomical community-talking about Neptune, a few of the stories we’ve been covering in recent days at The Debrief include Tim McMillan’s recent deep dive into the dark world of government secrecy, where he offeres a primer in the U.S. No one planet can tell us everything about the universe, but Neptune seems to hold more than its share of information about the formation of our own solar system – as well as the solar systems beyond. Welcome to this week’s installment of The Intelligence Brief… as new images from the James Webb Space Telescope continue to set new precedents in our ability to observe the cosmos, this week we’ll be looking at 1) striking new images of Neptune’s rings captured by Webb, 2) what makes the fourth-largest planet in our solar system an ice giant, 3) how Webb’s unique infrared imagery allowed the new striking images of Neptune’s ghostly rings, and 4) other features, and a few oddities, captured in the new photos. A very bright point of light seen in Webb’s images is Neptune's large and unusual moon, Triton.New images of Neptune captured with the James Webb Space Telescope reveal icy Neptune’s rings for the first time in decades (Credit: NASA). Webb also captured seven of Neptune's 14 known moons. A previously-known vortex at the southern pole is evident in Webb's view, but for the first time Webb has revealed a continuous band of high-latitude clouds surrounding it. The atmosphere descends and warms at the equator, and thus glows at infrared wavelengths more than the surrounding, cooler gases, it said. Keck Observatory, have recorded these rapidly evolving cloud features over the years.Ī thin line of brightness circling the planet's equator could be a visual signature of global atmospheric circulation that powers Neptune's winds and storms, according to NASA. Images from other observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. The methane gas so strongly absorbs red and infrared light that the planet is quite dark at these near-infrared wavelengths, except where high-altitude clouds are present, the researchers said. Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, so Neptune does not appear blue to the telescope. This is readily apparent in Neptune's signature blue appearance in Hubble Space Telescope images at visible wavelengths, caused by small amounts of gaseous methane. Compared to the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune is much richer in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The planet is characterised as an ice giant due to the chemical make-up of its interior. Neptune is located 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth, and orbits in the remote, dark region of the outer solar system. "It has been three decades since we last saw these faint, dusty rings, and this is the first time we have seen them in the infrared," Heidi Hammel, a Neptune system expert and interdisciplinary scientist for Webb said in a statement. In addition to several bright, narrow rings, the Webb image clearly shows Neptune's fainter dust bands. The most striking feature in the image is the crisp view of the planet's rings - some of which have not been detected since NASA's Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to observe Neptune during its flyby in 1989, the US space agency said. The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first image of Neptune, revealing the clearest view of the distant planet's rings in more than 30 years, NASA said. ![]()
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