September 21, 2022
James Webb telescope captures clearest view of Neptune's rings for 30 years
Not only has Webb captured the clearest view of the planet's rings in more than 30 years, but scientists say its cameras are revealing the ice giant in a whole new light.
Most striking about Webb's new image is the crisp view of the planet's dynamic rings - some of which haven't been seen at all, let alone with this clarity, since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989.
In addition to several bright narrow rings, the Webb images clearly show Neptune's fainter dust bands.
Webb's extremely stable and precise image quality also permits these very faint rings to be detected so close to Neptune.
Webb also captured seven of Neptune's 14 known moons. Dominating the Webb portrait of Neptune is a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes seen in many of Webb's images; it's not a star, but Neptune's most unusual moon, Triton.
