NASA has released its first images of Neptune captured by the James Webb Space Telescope as it shows off its capabilities within our home solar system.
Not only has Webb taken the clearest view of this distant planet's rings in more than 30 years, but its cameras have revealed the ice giant in a whole new light.
Most striking in Webb's new 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 Webb image also clearly shows Neptune's fainter dust bands.
"It has been three decades since we last saw those faint, dusty bands, and this is the first time we've seen them in the infrared," said Heidi Hammel, a Neptune system expert and interdisciplinary scientist for Webb.
Neptune has fascinated researchers since its discovery in 1846.
Located 30 times further from the Sun than Earth, Neptune orbits in the remote, dark region of the outer solar system.
At that extreme distance, the Sun is so small and faint that high noon on Neptune is similar to a dim twilight on Earth.
The planet is referred to as an ice giant due to the chemical make-up of its interior.
This is apparent in Neptune's signature blue appearance in Hubble Space Telescope images at visible wavelengths, caused by small amounts of gaseous methane.
A polar vortex and intriguing brightness
Neptune's 164-year orbit means its northern pole, at the top of this image, is just out of view for astronomers, but the Webb images hint at an intriguing brightness in that area.
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.
Webb also captured seven of Neptune's 14 known moons.
Dominating this Webb portrait of Neptune is a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes seen in many of Webb's images, but this is not a star.
Rather, this is Neptune's large and unusual moon, Triton.
It far outshines Neptune in this image because the planet's atmosphere is darkened by methane absorption at these near-infrared wavelengths.
Triton orbits Neptune in an unusual backward orbit, leading astronomers to speculate that this moon was originally a Kuiper belt object that was gravitationally captured by Neptune.
Additional Webb studies of both Triton and Neptune are planned in the coming year.
