Seven of the fourteen moons known to the planet have been immortalized. Astronomers had not had such clear views of the most distant planet of the solar system from the brief and only passage of a probe, travel-2, in 1989.
Le Monde with AFP
The James-Webb space telescope delivered unpublished images from the planet Neptune and its rings, which provide precious indications on its atmosphere, announced NASA , Wednesday 21 September.
The astronomers had not had such clear views of the most distant planet of the solar system from the brief and only passage of a probe, travel-2, in the vicinity of this freezing giant, in 1989. Vision Infrared of the telescope offers a new way of analyzing its atmosphere, explained Mark McCaughrean, advisor for science and exploration at the European Space Agency.
The telescope eliminates all the dazzling due to the reflection of the sun on the surface of Neptune and the light pollution of its environment, in a way “starting to guess the atmospheric composition” of the planet, said to the agency France-press This astronomer who has worked for more than twenty years on the James-Webb telescope project.
Sept of the fourteen lunes of Neptune captured
Neptune had a bluish appearance in the images taken in the visible wave range by the Hubble telescope, because of the presence of methane in its atmosphere. With the Nircam instrument of James-Webb, which works in the near infrared, the planet takes a colorized shade in a gray white. The image also shows “a strange light” to one of the poles of Neptune, said NASA in a press release.
The telescope also captured the image of seven of the fourteen moons known to the planet. In particular of Triton, which resembles a small star by its brilliance. More important than the dwarf planet Pluto, it also seems more brilliant than Neptune because of the reflection of solar light on its ice surface.
Astronomers who seek planets outside the solar system have found that those of the genus of Neptune or Uranus were the most widespread. “The ability to observe them will facilitate the observation of others [ice giants] in orbit around other stars” than the sun, explained Mr. McCaughrean.
In service since July, the James-Webb telescope is the most powerful space telescope ever deployed. It will allow a kind of astronomy “which was unthinkable five years ago,” said Mr. McCaughrean.