Planet Neptune with Triton and Six More Moons | James Webb Space Telescope

Planet Neptune with Triton and Six More Moons | James Webb Space Telescope

In this version of Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of Neptune, the planet’s visible moons are labeled. Neptune has 14 known satellites, and seven of them are visible in this image.

Triton, the bright spot of light in the upper left of this image, far outshines Neptune because the planet’s atmosphere is darkened by methane absorption wavelengths captured by Webb. Triton reflects an average of 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it. Triton, which orbits Neptune in a backward orbit, is suspected to have originally been a Kuiper belt object (KBO) that was gravitationally captured by Neptune.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners,  European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Release Date: September 21, 2022

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