Anillos deslumbrantes y atmósferas asombrosamente dinámicas en la nueva y sorprendente vista de Webb del gigante helado Urano

La imagen infrarroja de Webb destaca los anillos dramáticos y la atmósfera dinámica del planeta.

Universo[{» attribute=»»>Uranus is an oddball in our solar system, tilted on its side as it orbits the sun, causing extreme seasons. While the planet’s atmosphere appeared nearly featureless when visited by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, subsequent observations from the ground and in space have shown turbulent storms.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently observed Uranus, and the resulting image highlights a complex system of rings as well as a bright polar cap and likely storm clouds.

This zoomed-in image of Uranus, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on February 6, 2023, reveals stunning views of the planet’s rings. The planet displays a blue hue in this representative-color image, made by combining data from two filters (F140M, F300M) at 1.4 and 3.0 microns, which are shown here as blue and orange, respectively. Credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Webb Space Telescope Scores Another Ringed World with New Image of Uranus

Following in the footsteps of the Neptune image released in 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken a stunning image of the solar system’s other ice giant, the planet Uranus. The new image features dramatic rings as well as bright features in the planet’s atmosphere. The Webb data demonstrates the observatory’s unprecedented sensitivity for the faintest dusty rings, which have only ever been imaged by two other facilities: the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it flew past the planet in 1986, and the Keck Observatory with advanced adaptive optics.

The seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus is unique: It rotates on its side, at roughly a 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This causes extreme seasons since the planet’s poles experience many years of constant sunlight followed by an equal number of years of complete darkness. (Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun.) Currently, it is late spring for the northern pole, which is visible here; Uranus’ northern summer will be in 2028. In contrast, when Voyager 2 visited Uranus it was summer at the south pole. The south pole is now on the ‘dark side’ of the planet, out of view and facing the darkness of space.

This zoomed-in image of Uranus, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on February 6, 2023, reveals stunning views of the planet’s rings. On the right side of the planet, there’s an area of brightening at the pole facing the Sun, known as a polar cap. This polar cap is unique to Uranus because it is the only planet in the solar system tilted on its side, which causes its extreme seasons. A new aspect of the polar cap revealed by Webb is a subtle brightening near the Uranian north pole. At the edge of the polar cap lies a bright cloud as well as a few fainter extended features just northward of the cap’s edge, and a second very bright cloud is seen at the planet’s left limb. Such clouds are typical for Uranus in infrared wavelengths, and likely are connected to storm activity. Credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

This infrared image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) combines data from two filters at 1.4 and 3.0 microns, which are shown here in blue and orange, respectively. The planet displays a blue hue in the resulting representative-color image.

When Voyager 2 looked at Uranus, its camera showed an almost featureless blue-green ball in visible wavelengths. With the infrared wavelengths and extra sensitivity of Webb we see more detail, showing how dynamic the atmosphere of Uranus really is.

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. Credit: Science: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

On the right side of the planet, there’s an area of brightening at the pole facing the Sun, known as a polar cap. This polar cap is unique to Uranus – it seems to appear when the pole enters direct sunlight in the summer and vanish in the fall; these Webb data will help scientists understand the currently mysterious mechanism. Webb revealed a surprising aspect of the polar cap: a subtle enhanced brightening at the center of the cap. The sensitivity and longer wavelengths of Webb’s NIRCam may be why we can see this enhanced Uranus polar feature when it has not been seen as clearly with other powerful telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck Observatory.

At the edge of the polar cap lies a bright cloud as well as a few fainter extended features just beyond the cap’s edge, and a second very bright cloud is seen at the planet’s left limb. Such clouds are typical for Uranus in infrared wavelengths, and likely are connected to storm activity.

This planet is characterized as an ice giant due to the chemical make-up of its interior. Most of its mass is thought to be a hot, dense fluid of “icy” materials – water, methane, and ammonia – above a small rocky core.

El Telescopio Espacial James Webb ha capturado una imagen impresionante del otro planeta gigante helado del sistema solar, Urano. La nueva imagen presenta emocionantes anillos, así como características brillantes en la atmósfera del planeta. Los nuevos datos de Webb para Urano proporcionan una sensibilidad notable, revelando el más débil de los anillos de polvo. El séptimo planeta desde el Sol, Urano, es extraño: gira de lado en un ángulo de unos 90 grados desde el plano de su órbita. Esto provoca temporadas inusuales ya que los polos del planeta experimentan 42 años de luz solar continua y 42 años de oscuridad total (Urano tarda 84 años en orbitar alrededor del sol). Actualmente es primavera tardía en el Polo Norte, que está en el lado derecho de esta imagen; El verano del norte estará en Urano en 2028.

Urano tiene 13 anillos conocidos y 11 de ellos son visibles en esta imagen web. Algunos de estos anillos son tan brillantes con Webb que cuando están juntos, parecen fusionarse en un anillo más grande. Nueve están clasificados como los anillos principales del planeta, y dos son los débiles anillos polvorientos (como el anillo difuso de Zeta más cercano al planeta) que no se descubrieron hasta el sobrevuelo de la Voyager 2 en 1986. Los científicos esperan que las futuras imágenes Webb de Urano revelará los dos débiles anillos exteriores que estaban Descúbrelo con Hubble Durante el cruce del avión circular de 2007.

Webb también capturó muchas de las 27 lunas conocidas de Urano (la mayoría de ellas demasiado pequeñas y débiles para verlas aquí); Los seis más brillantes se identifican en la imagen panorámica. Esta fue solo una breve imagen de exposición de 12 minutos de Urano con solo dos candidatos. Es solo la punta del iceberg de lo que Webb puede hacer al observar este misterioso planeta. Ahora se están realizando estudios adicionales de Urano, y se planean más en el primer año de operaciones científicas de Webb.

En 2022, las Academias Nacionales de Ciencias, Ingeniería y Medicina han designado la Ciencia de Urano como una prioridad en Ciencias Planetarias y Astrobiología 2023-2033 Mi escaneo de nodos.

El telescopio espacial James Webb es el principal observatorio de ciencia espacial del mundo. Revelará los secretos de nuestro sistema solar, explorará planetas distantes alrededor de otras estrellas y examinará estructuras misteriosas y los comienzos del universo y nuestro lugar en él. El programa es una colaboración entre la NASA, la Agencia Espacial Europea (ESA) y la Agencia Espacial Canadiense, y está dirigido por la NASA.