The new image of Saturn that’s already dazzling science – The Zocalo

Mexico City. – On June 25, 2023, the Space Telescope James Webb of NASA I headed to Saturn, the famously round giant, for the first infrared observation of the planet. Their photos have just been released and they are already fascinating scientists all over the world.

in the pictures, The planet appears very dark in this infrared wavelength, because methane absorbs almost all of the sunlight that falls on the atmosphere. However, the icy rings remain relatively bright, resulting in Saturn’s unusual web appearance.

NASA explains that this was achieved with a very deep exposure of the planet that was designed to test the telescope’s ability to detect faint moons and their bright rings. A “new” moon could help scientists build a more complete picture The Saturnian system and its past.

Details inside the planet’s ring system are visible in this new image of Saturn, along with several of the planet’s moons: Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys. Additional exposure may allow an individual to probe some of the planet’s faintest rings. But this was not the only surprise. The planet’s atmosphere also reveals surprising details: Where are Saturn’s signature stripes?

“Large, dark, and fuzzy features in the northern hemisphere do not follow the planet’s latitudes, NASA says, so this image lacks the familiar striped appearance typically seen in the deeper layers of Saturn’s atmosphere. These observations are just a hint of what James Webb will add to the Saturn story in the coming years as the science team digs deeper into the data to prepare peer-reviewed findings.