Before capturing Neptune on camera, JWST was wowing audiences with stellar photographs of nebulae and galaxies in deep space. Now, he’s turned his gaze back inward to our solar system and captured a photo that may challenge your perception of the distant ice giant. This image provided by NASA on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, shows the Neptune system captured by the Webb Near Infrared Camera. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via AP The images show Neptune with a bright surface and two bright rings, with many moons. NASA says it captured the “clearest view” of Neptune in more than 30 years when Voyager 2 first spotted Neptune during its flyby in 1989. Story continues below ad The telescope is giving scientists an unprecedented look at Neptune’s atmosphere—its bright streaks and spots are actually high-altitude clouds of methane gas that reflect distant sunlight. The sun is so distant, in fact, that NASA says that “noon on Neptune looks like a faint twilight on Earth.”

		Read more: Cosmic rocks, dancing galaxies: James Webb Telescope’s 1st photos dazzle 		
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			Cosmic rocks, dancing galaxies: James Webb Telescope’s 1st pictures dazzle

Mark McCaughrean, senior adviser for science and exploration at the European Space Agency, told AFP that with the James Webb telescope “we can start to tease out the atmospheric composition” of the planet because Webb’s imaging “removes all that glare and the background. “ When Hubble and Voyager both photographed Neptune, its surface appeared blue due to all the methane gas in its atmosphere absorbing red light. But in the near-infrared range recorded by Webb, Neptune is a grayish-white hue. “The rings are more reflective in the infrared,” McCaughrean said, “so they’re much easier to see.” This composite image provided by NASA on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, shows three side-by-side images of Neptune. From left, a photo of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989, Hubble in 2021, and Webb in 2022. In visible light, Neptune appears blue due to small amounts of methane gas in its atmosphere. Webb’s near-infrared camera, in contrast, observed Neptune at near-infrared wavelengths, where Neptune looks like a pearl with thin, concentric oval rings. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via AP Webb’s images show Neptune flanked by seven of its 14 known moons. What appears to be a bright, sharp star hovering above the planet is actually Triton, a moon of Neptune that NASA calls “large and unusual.” Trending Stories

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Story continues below ad Triton is covered in frozen, condensed nitrogen that gives it a glow that reflects about 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it—far outshining the relatively dim Neptune. NASA notes in its press release that Triton orbits Neptune retrograde (backwards), leading astronomers to hypothesize that Triton was originally a Kuiper Belt object that was “gravitationally captured” by Neptune. The Neptune system with seven of its 14 known moons, captured by Webb’s near-infrared camera. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via AP NASA says it plans to study Neptune and Triton again with the Webb telescope. The image also shows a “fascinating brightness” at Neptune’s north pole, a part of the planet that is not exactly visible to astronomers because of Neptune’s 164-year orbit. Neptune’s south pole faces Webb, and the image shows a previously known vortex there, but reveals that there is a “continuous band of high-altitude clouds surrounding it.” 2:16 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captures dazzling images of the universe Previous video Next video Story continues below ad JWST is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which not only provided stunning images, but was also vital in providing scientific knowledge about our universe and its origins. JWST has a much larger primary mirror than Hubble (2.7 times larger in diameter, or about six times larger in area), giving it more light-gathering power and much improved sensitivity over Hubble. When JWST launched on Christmas Day 2021, there were no second chances—its extremely distant location in the solar system makes it impossible for human crews to visit for repairs.

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Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science mission chief, said that with the new telescope, the world is “giving up secrets that have been there for many, many decades, centuries, millennia.” “It’s not a picture. It’s a new worldview that you’re going to see,” he said during a media briefing in July. — with files from Michelle Butterfield of Global News © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.