New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune’s Rings in Decades

        NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has released its first image of Neptune, according to a statement by NASA published on Wednesday. The spectacular image has captured the clearest view of this distant planet in more than 30 years. Which was not even noted since 1989 remains notable in web's new image.  The telescope even managed to capture some of Neptune’s fainter dust bands. Neptune system expert said "It has been three decades since we last saw these faint, dusty rings, and this is the first time we’ve seen them in the infrared".

             In 1846 Neptune was discovered first and has fascinated astromers. Due to the chemical makeup of the planet it is characterized as an ice giant. However, Neptune is much richer in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium than its neighbor gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. In previous Hubble Space Telescope images, the planet appeared blue but Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, making the celestial object a beautiful tint of purple. This all is just because of its concentration of methane gas so strongly and it absorbs red and infrared light.

           TRITON has been also spotted But Webb did not only produce a more colorful and clearer observation of the planet, but it also captured seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons, particularly Triton.

•  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.
• Covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average of 70% of the sunlight that hits it. 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 (retrograde) 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.

      The James web space telescope it is the worlds largest  space science observatory. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partner ESA (European Space Agency) and with also Canadian Space Agency.