Planet Uranus & The Uranian System | James Webb Space Telescope

Planet Uranus & The Uranian System | James Webb Space Telescope

This zoomed-in image of Uranus and its rings was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on Feb. 6, 2023.

This annotated, zoomed-in image of Uranus and its rings was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on Feb. 6, 2023.

This wider view of the Uranian system with Webb’s NIRCam instrument features the planet Uranus as well as six of its 27 known moons (most of which are too small and faint to be seen in this short exposure). A handful of background objects, including many galaxies, are also seen.

An annotated wider view of the Uranian system.

The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope has taken stunning images of the Solar System’s other ice giant, the planet Uranus and its moons. These new images feature dramatic rings as well as bright features in the planet’s atmosphere. The new Webb data of Uranus offer exquisite sensitivity, revealing the faintest dusty rings.

The seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus is strange: it rotates on its side, at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This causes unusual seasons since the planet’s poles experience 42 years of constant sunlight and 42 years of complete darkness (Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun). Currently, it is late spring at the northern pole, which is on the right side of this image; Uranus’s northern summer will be in 2028.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA)/Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), J. DePasquale (STScI), N. Bartmann  

Release Date: April 6, 2023

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