James Webb took a spectacular shot of Uranus with bright rings
The James Webb Space Telescope continues to delight visitors with interesting photographs. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has published a spectacular image of Uranus.
Here's What We Know
The photo shows the rings and some of the satellites of the seventh planet from the Sun. Equator of Uranus is rotated by 90 degrees to the plane of the orbit. In simple terms, the planet is rotating, lying on its side.
Because of its unusual position, day and night last for years at the poles of Uranus. The ice giant makes a complete revolution around the Sun in 84 Earth years. The planet is now coming to the end of spring and summer will begin in 2028.
Uranus has 13 rings. An image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope perfectly shows 11 of them. Some of the rings are very bright, so they appear to merge into one big, wide ring.
The telescope also captured some of Uranus' satellites. The planet has a total of 27 of them. The six brightest satellites are signed in the image above.
James Webb is equipped with a NIRCam camera. It's the camera that took the picture of Uranus. The bright area on the right side of the planet is called the polar cap. It is only visible when it is in direct sunlight.
Check out the polar cap (bright white area) on the right side! Webb reveals, for the first time, a subtle enhanced brightening at its centre. This polar cap appears in the direct sunlight of summer and vanishes in the fall. Webb's data will help us to understand this mystery. pic.twitter.com/OJuBUpcsiD
- NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 6, 2023
Astronomers hope the data will help learn more about the polar cap. When autumn arrives on the planet, it will disappear again. The clouds, which can also be seen in the photo, are likely formed by thunderstorm activity.
Source: NASA
