Additional Webb studies of both Triton and Neptune are planned in the coming year. Triton orbits Neptune in a bizarre backward (retrograde) orbit, leading astronomers to speculate that this moon was actually a Kuiper Belt object that was gravitationally captured by Neptune. It far outshines Neptune because the planet’s atmosphere is darkened by methane absorption at Webb’s wavelengths. Dominating this Webb portrait of Neptune is a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes seen in many of Webb’s images it’s not a star, but Neptune’s most unusual moon, Triton.Ĭovered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average of 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it. Webb also captured seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons. A previously-known vortex at the southern pole is evident in Webb’s view, but for the first time Webb has revealed a continuous band of clouds surrounding it. Neptune’s 164-year orbit means its northern pole, at the top of this image, is just out of view for astronomers, but the Webb images hint at an intriguing brightness in that area. The atmosphere descends and warms at the equator, and thus glows at infrared wavelengths more than the surrounding, cooler gases.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |