Saturn Captured By James Webb Space Telescope

Saturn Captured By James Webb Space Telescope

This image shows Saturn and some of its moons, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) NIRCam instrument on June 25, 2023. In this monochrome image, NIRCam filter F323N (3.23 microns) was color mapped with an orange hue. JWST turned to the ringed world Saturn in June 2023 to conduct a deep search for new ring structure and faint moons. Saturn itself appears to extremely dark at the infrared wavelengths sensed by JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), as methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling on the atmosphere. However, the icy rings stay relatively bright, leading to the unusual appearance of Saturn in the JWST image. Several very deep Saturn exposures taken together with this image were designed to test JWST’s capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and its bright rings. Any newly discovered moons would be important dynamical tracers of the current Saturn system as well as its past history. This context image clearly shows details within the ring system, along with many of

  • Product Code
  • ILEA001489197
  • Registered date
  • 2023/6/30 00:00:00
  • Credit
  • Abaca Press / Kyodo News Images
  • Media source
  • ABACA
  • Media size
  • 2586 × 1454 pixel
  • Resolution
  • 72 dpi
  • Deployment size
  • 142.80(KB)*
  • Special instruction

*File size when opened in Photoshop, etc.

Similar Images & Videos
    NASA’s Webb Finds Signs of Possible Aurorae on Isolated Brown Dwarf

    NASA’s Webb Finds Signs of Possible Aurorae on Isolated Brown Dwarf

    Handout photo - This artist concept portrays the brown dwarf W1935, which is located 47 light-years from Earth. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found infrared emission from methane coming from W1935. This is an unexpected discovery because the brown dwarf is cold and lacks a host star; therefore, there is no obvious source of energy to heat its upper atmosphere and make the methane glow. The team speculates that the methane emission may be due to processes generating aurorae, shown here in red. Infrared emission from methane suggests atmospheric heating by auroral processes. These findings are being presented at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in New Orleans. To help explain the mystery of the infrared emission from methane, the team turned to our solar system. Methane in emission is a common feature in gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. The upper-atmosphere heating that powers this emission is linked to aurorae. Photo by NASA, ESA, CSA, and L. Hustak (STScI) via AB
      NASA's Webb Reveals New Features in Heart of Milky Way

      NASA's Webb Reveals New Features in Heart of Milky Way

      Handout photo - The latest image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features astronomers have yet to explain. The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is about 300 light-years from the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A. The NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's reveals a portion of the Milky Way’s dense core in a new light. An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this image of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region, along with some as-yet unidentified features. A large region of ionized hydrogen, shown in cyan, contains intriguing needle-like structures that lack any uniform orientation. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and o
        NASA's Webb Reveals New Features in Heart of Milky Way

        NASA's Webb Reveals New Features in Heart of Milky Way

        Handout photo - The latest image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features astronomers have yet to explain. The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is about 300 light-years from the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A. The NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's reveals a portion of the Milky Way’s dense core in a new light. An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this image of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region, along with some as-yet unidentified features. A large region of ionized hydrogen, shown in cyan, contains intriguing needle-like structures that lack any uniform orientation. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and o
          Webb Reveals New Structures Within Iconic Supernova

          Webb Reveals New Structures Within Iconic Supernova

          Handout - Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured this detailed image of SN 1987A (Supernova 1987A). At the center, material ejected from the supernova forms a keyhole shape. Just to its left and right are faint crescents newly discovered by Webb. Beyond them an equatorial ring, formed from material ejected tens of thousands of years before the supernova explosion, contains bright hot spots. Exterior to that is diffuse emission and two faint outer rings. This image reveals a central structure like a keyhole. This center is packed with clumpy gas and dust ejected by the supernova explosion. The dust is so dense that even near-infrared light that Webb detects can’t penetrate it, shaping the dark “hole” in the keyhole. Despite the decades of study since the supernova’s initial discovery, there are several mysteries that remain, particularly surrounding the neutron star that should have been formed in the aftermath of the supernova explosion. August 31, 2023. Photo by NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Matsuura (Cardiff Un
            James Webb View Of The Ring Nebula

            James Webb View Of The Ring Nebula

            The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has observed the well-known Ring Nebula with unprecedented detail. Formed by a star throwing off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archetypal planetary nebula. Also known as M57 and NGC 6720, it is both relatively close to Earth at roughly 2,500 light-years away. This new image provides unprecedented spatial resolution and spectral sensitivity. In particular, Webb’s MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) reveals particular details in the concentric features in the outer regions of the nebulae’s ring (right). There are some 20,000 dense globules in the nebula, which are rich in molecular hydrogen. In contrast, the inner region shows very hot gas. The main shell contains a thin ring of enhanced emission fromcarbon-based molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Roughly ten concentric arcs located just beyond the outer edge of the main ring. The arcs are thought to originate from the interaction of the central star with a low-mass
              James Webb View Of The Ring Nebula

              James Webb View Of The Ring Nebula

              The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has observed the well-known Ring Nebula with unprecedented detail. Formed by a star throwing off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archetypal planetary nebula. Also known as M57 and NGC 6720, it is both relatively close to Earth at roughly 2,500 light-years away. This new image provides unprecedented spatial resolution and spectral sensitivity. For example, the intricate details of the filament structure of the inner ring are particularly visible in this dataset. There are some 20,000 dense globules in the nebula, which are rich in molecular hydrogen. In contrast, the inner region shows very hot gas. The main shell contains a thin ring of enhanced emission fromcarbon-based molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Roughly ten concentric arcs are located just beyond the outer edge of the main ring. The arcs are thought to originate from the interaction of the central star with a low-mass companion orbiting at a distance
                James Webb View Of The Ring Nebula

                James Webb View Of The Ring Nebula

                New images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the well-known Ring Nebula provide unprecedented spatial resolution and spectral sensitivity. In the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image on the left, the intricate details of the filament structure of the inner ring are particularly visible in this dataset. On the right, the MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) image reveals particular details in the concentric features in the outer regions of the nebulae’s ring. Photo by ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Barlow, N. Cox, R. Wesson via CNP/ABACAPRESS.COM
                  Saturn Captured By James Webb Space Telescope

                  Saturn Captured By James Webb Space Telescope

                  This image shows Saturn and some of its moons, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) NIRCam instrument on June 25, 2023. In this monochrome image, NIRCam filter F323N (3.23 microns) was color mapped with an orange hue. JWST turned to the ringed world Saturn in June 2023 to conduct a deep search for new ring structure and faint moons. Saturn itself appears to extremely dark at the infrared wavelengths sensed by JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), as methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling on the atmosphere. However, the icy rings stay relatively bright, leading to the unusual appearance of Saturn in the JWST image. Several very deep Saturn exposures taken together with this image were designed to test JWST’s capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and its bright rings. Any newly discovered moons would be important dynamical tracers of the current Saturn system as well as its past history. This context image clearly shows details within the ring system, along with many of
                    View Of Comet Helps Solve Mystery Of Earth's Abundant Water

                    View Of Comet Helps Solve Mystery Of Earth's Abundant Water

                    Handout - This image of Comet 238P/Read was captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on September 8, 2022. It displays the hazy halo, called the coma, and tail that are characteristic of comets, as opposed to asteroids. The dusty coma and tail result from the vaporization of ices as the Sun warms the main body of the comet. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has enabled another long-sought scientific breakthrough, this time for solar system scientists studying the origins of Earth's abundant water. Using Webb's NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, astronomers have confirmed gas – specifically water vapor – around a comet in the main asteroid belt for the first time, indicating that water ice from the primordial solar system can be preserved in that region. Comet Read is a main belt comet – an object that resides in the main asteroid belt but which periodically displays a halo, or coma, and tail like a comet. Main belt comets themselves are a fair
                      View Of Comet Helps Solve Mystery Of Earth's Abundant Water

                      View Of Comet Helps Solve Mystery Of Earth's Abundant Water

                      Handout - This artist’s concept of Comet 238P/Read shows the main belt comet sublimating—its water ice vaporising as its orbit approaches the Sun. This is significant, as the sublimation is what distinguishes comets from asteroids, creating their distinctive tail and hazy halo, or coma. The James Webb Space Telescope’s detection of water vapor at Comet Read is a major benchmark in the study of main belt comets, and in the broader investigation of the origin of Earth’s abundant water. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has enabled another long-sought scientific breakthrough, this time for solar system scientists studying the origins of Earth's abundant water. Using Webb's NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, astronomers have confirmed gas – specifically water vapor – around a comet in the main asteroid belt for the first time, indicating that water ice from the primordial solar system can be preserved in that region. Comet Read is a main belt comet – an object that resides in the main asteroid belt