NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope has released stunning new images of Neptune and its rings, as well as seven of the planet's 14 known moons. Researchers say it's the clearest view of Neptune's rings since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989.
The latest images released Wednesday show the powerful telescope's first look at Neptune. According to, it's not only the clearest view of the planet's rings in more than 30 years — it also reveals the ice giant "in a whole new light."
Researchers said Triton appears to shine like a star because it is covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, causing it to reflect an average of 70% of the sunlight that hits it — far outshining its own planet. At visible wavelengths in Hubble Space Telescope images, Neptune appears blue due to small amounts of gaseous methane. However, the Webb Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera captures objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, so Neptune does not appear blue in its image.
"Neptune orbits in one of the dimmest areas of our 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," NASA said.
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