James Webb Space Telescope Captures Uranus’ Elusive Zeta Ring, Moons in Festive Photo

Saturn is the most popular planet with a ring system. However, Uranus can compete with Saturn because it has the same spectacular rings.

JWST Shares Uranus' Festive Photos With Rings, Moons

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) released new photos of the seventh planet, and they appeared festive enough for the holiday season. The stunning image doesn't just show the plan; its inner and outer rings, including the elusive Zeta ring, are fully displayed. Nine of its 27 moons are also visible in the shot.

The wider image displays Uranus' five major moons: Ariel, Miranda, Oberon, Titania, and Umbriel. In contrast, the cropped view shows some smaller, fainter moons, including those embedded within the rings.

Per NASA, Uranus's seasonal north polar cap and its bright storms below and close to its southern border are clearly visible in the newly acquired photos. Navigating debris from Uranus' rings is essential if humans hope to send a spaceship for a close-up look.

Uranus experiences harsh seasons due to its extreme 98-degree tilt. The Sun only shines on one pole for 25% of the planet's year, meaning half of it goes through a long, dark winter lasting 21 years.

For many of the sorts of distant exoplanets that are being found, Uranus serves as a decent stand-in. Gaining greater knowledge about Uranus could aid in our understanding of planets of similar size generally, as well as their formation and meteorology.

Several netizens were impressed with the sight. Mathew Scott McMillan said the photo was "amazing" because he didn't know that Uranus was very beautiful and possessed such wonderful and colorful rings. Another user said the photo of the Uranus with its wonderful vertical rings appeared to be a "portal to another dimension."

The new images reveal detailed features of Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. If humans want to send a spacecraft to visit Uranus up close, it’s necessary to understand how to navigate debris from its rings. pic.twitter.com/tvqcZCYTwD
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) December 18, 2023

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Uranus Ring System

Uranus is one of the planets in the solar system with an impressive ring system. There are two rings around Uranus. Narrow, dark grey rings comprise most of the nine rings' inner system. There are two outer rings -- the outer ring is blue like Saturn's E ring, while the innermost one is reddish like dusty rings found elsewhere in the solar system.

The names of the rings are Zeta, 6, 5, 4, Alpha, Beta, Eta, Gamma, Delta, Lambda, Epsilon, Nu, and Mu, in increasing order of separation from the planet. Belts of fine dust encircle several of the bigger rings.

About 4.5 billion years ago, when the solar system was still forming, swirling gas and dust were drawn in by gravity to produce Uranus, the icy giant we see today. Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, most likely formed closer to the Sun than its cousin Neptune, and it traveled to the outer solar system some 4 billion years ago.

There are 27 known moons of Uranus. The moons of Uranus are distinct in that they are named after figures from William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope, whereas most satellites orbiting other planets derive their names from Greek or Roman mythology.

The inner moons of Uranus all seem to be around half rock and half aqueous ice. The outer moons' makeup is still unclear, but asteroids likely capture them.