5
The James Webb Space Telescope captures image of Saturn and its rings in all their shiny glory
(media.kbin.social)
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
5 points (100.0% liked)
Space
2 readers
2 users here now
Cover author: Michał Kałużny http://astrofotografia.pl/
founded 2 years ago
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
See the official press release by SETI institute here -> seti.org/press-release/new-image-james-webb-space-telescope-reveals-astonishing-saturn-and-its-rings
An excerpt:
> > > Methane gas absorbs almost all the sunlight falling on the atmosphere at this picture’s specific infrared wavelength (3.23 microns). As a result, Saturn’s familiar striped patterns aren’t visible because the methane-rich upper atmosphere blocks our view of the primary clouds. Instead, Saturn’s disk appears dark, and we see features associated with high-altitude stratospheric aerosols, including large, dark, and diffuse structures in Saturn’s northern hemisphere that don’t align with the planet’s lines of latitude. Unlike Saturn's atmosphere, its rings lack methane, so at this infrared wavelength, they are no darker than usual and thus easily outshine the darkened planet. > >