Released: The James Webb Image We Were All Waiting For

the James Webb Space Telescope a Titan in the world of astronomy has recently given us an amazing image of Saturn the famous ringed planet of our solar system the picture goes beyond our wildest dreams showing off Saturn's beautiful rings in a new light with this Webb has captured its first images of all the four gas giants of the Solar System Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune but unlike the Striking pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope where Saturn is often shown with bright bands of clouds this new image from Webb paints a different picture Saturn appears as a dark circle colored in shades of warm orange and brown which is quite unusual why is it so different the answer lies in the special wavelengths that Webb uses to observe celestial objects unlike the famous Hubble Telescope which sees things in visible light the web telescope uses infrared light to view the universe even though we can't see infrared light with our own eyes it has lots of uses for example it can help us understand heat or thermal emission so if we want to learn about what's happening on a planet shrouded in thick clouds we can study its heat signatures in fact the same infrared light is used by your remote control to change channels on your TV or adjust your air conditioner also infrared light has longer wavelengths than visible light because of this it can travel through thick gas and dust in space without getting scattered or absorbed this means it can reveal hidden objects in space that can't be seen by telescopes that only use visible light now let's talk about Saturn when infrared light of a certain wavelength hits the methane gas in Saturn's atmosphere almost all the light is absorbed this is why Saturn looks very dark in the picture taken by Webb interestingly even though it's near the end of its seven year summer the northern part of Saturn looks even darker than we expected scientists are still trying to figure out why this is happening they think it might be due to some unknown process in Saturn's atmosphere that's creating tiny particles or aerosols on the other hand the atmosphere hugging the edges of the planet's disk shines brightly this luminescence could be the result of methane fluorescence a process where atoms soak up light and then give it off at a different frequency alternatively it could stem from emissions from tri-hydrogen ions abundant in the upper layers of the atmosphere or it might even be a blend of the two phenomena to pinpoint the exact cause we'll need to delve deeper with detailed spectroscopic studies yet the mysteries of Saturn's dark appearance don't end here are curious patches in the planet's Northern Region reminiscent of structures web spotted on Jupiter a few months back these could be the footprints of gravity waves interacting with aerosols in the upper atmosphere however the exact process remains enigmatic let's now turn our Focus to the star attractions in the images the Rings and the moons against Saturn's shadowy backdrop the icy Rings steal the show shining brightly and revealing their breathtaking splendor they appear as vibrant thick horizontal bands glowing with a snowy Hue effortlessly upstaging the muted Saturn lurking in the background made up of a mix of ice and rock particles varying in size from Mere grains of sand to towering mountains they reflect a significant amount of infrared light while Saturn's rings indisputably steal the show in this remarkable photograph there's more to the picture that draws our attention making a cameo in the celestial snapshot are three of Saturn's 145 moons Dion Enceladus and tethus appearing as luminous specs they are neatly aligned one above the other in ascending order among this Trio Enceladus stands out as one of the most fascinating bodies in our solar system known for ejecting sprays of its subsurface ocean over six thousand miles or 9 600 kilometers into space its Allure has grown with a recent discovery of phosphorus this icy world now ranks high among the most promising candidates for hosting alien life you may wonder is this image an exact representation of what Webb saw interestingly it isn't the final picture is the result of merging several raw images captured by Webb each using different infrared wavelength filters and that's not all these images also go through a stage of post-processing in their initial form many raw images presented Saturn is nothing more than a bright white blob with protruding ears akin to shining a halogen flashlight on a reflective fabric nevertheless certain raw images caught the eye more than others for instance in one of the images we get a glimpse of Saturn as seen through most of Webb's near spec wavelengths here we can discern Saturn's Cloud bands and witness the Rings radiating around the center mirroring the glow of a fluorescent ring light the image also contains some white specks representing noise which were later edited out to refine the final picture another striking image taking its short near infrared wavelengths depicts Saturn as almost pitch black this illustrates the immense dedication and meticulous effort that went into producing the final science-ready images in summary the image we see as a result of the telescope's observations isn't an exact copy of the initial captures it's a synthesis of various raw images each taken with different filters that have undergone subsequent processing this culminates in an image that's both scientifically enriching and Visually enticing Webb sees these stunning snapshots of the gas giant during a focused 20-hour observational Mission dedicated to Saturn the undertaking was designed around a proposal seeking to Leverage The near spec data to delve deeper into the mysteries of Saturn's moons and Rings it's also worth mentioning that the team spearheading this proposal requested additional imagery of Select saturnian moons coupled with observations using James Webb Space telescopes mid infrared instrument or Miri as of now these images remain eagerly anticipated however even in the absence of these extra captures it's clear that Webb's current observations merely scratch the surface of the substantial Revelations the telescope is set to contribute to Saturn's ongoing narrative in the years to come recently astronomers made a groundbreaking discovery they found a mysterious Cosmic object that shining 10 million times brighter than the sun a detailed analysis of this object has led to new physics if you missed this episode be sure to catch up on this exciting discovery

Channel: The Secrets of the Universe

Views: 107,585

Keywords: Saturn, James Webb Space Telescope

Id: v9-sJt8mSx0

Length: 7min 9sec (429 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 06 2023