Stunning New Images of Uranus Revealed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
By Allie Griffin
Published Dec. 18, 2023, 10:50 p.m. ET
Stunning new images of Uranus were released by NASA on Monday, detailing the icy planet’s glowing rings and other rarely-seen features. The photos, taken by NASA’s high-powered James Webb Space Telescope, captured the planet along with its multiple inner and outer rings, nine of its 27 known moons, and a seasonal polar cap.
The new pictures offer a rare glimpse of the “elusive” Zeta ring, an extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet, shown in a reddish-brown color. Multiple other rings were captured in a glowing blue color.
The high-powered Webb telescope also grabbed snapshots of atmospheric happenings on the freezing planet, including Uranus’ seasonal north polar cloud cap and several storms near it. The polar cap becomes more pronounced as Uranus’ pole shifts towards the sun as it approaches solstice and receives more sunlight.
Uranus has the most extreme seasons in the solar system because it spins on its side at a tilt of about 98 degrees. While the sun shines over one pole, the other pole is plunged into a dark, 21-year-long winter.
“With Webb’s unparalleled infrared resolution and sensitivity, astronomers now see Uranus and its unique features with groundbreaking new clarity,” NASA said. “These details, especially of the close-in Zeta ring, will be invaluable to planning any future missions to Uranus.”
NASA stated that the planet and the new images of it will help its scientists study nearly 2,000 similarly-sized exoplanets discovered over the last few decades. This “exoplanet in our backyard” can help astronomers understand how planets of this size work, what their meteorology is like, and how they formed. This can in turn help us understand our own solar system as a whole by placing it in a larger context.