Mar 26, 2025 · For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured bright auroral activity on Neptune. Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s magnetic field and eventually strike the upper atmosphere. The energy released during these collisions creates the signature glow.

Sep 21, 2022 · NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows off its capabilities closer to home with its first image of Neptune. Not only has Webb captured the clearest view of this distant planet’s rings in more than 30 years, but its cameras reveal the ice giant in a whole new light.

Mar 26, 2025 · The JWST NIRSpec observations of Neptune. Credit: Nature Astronomy (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-025-02507-9 ... The James Webb Space Telescope has captured Neptune's auroras for the first time ...

Mar 27, 2025 · New James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images have captured auroras on Neptune for the first time. The telescope spotted infrared auroras that create exotic molecules known as trihydrogen cations,...

Mar 26, 2025 · At the left, an enhanced-color image of Neptune from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. At the right, that image is combined with data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Mar 27, 2025 · If JWST “was powerful enough to see the earliest galaxies in the universe, it’d better be powerful enough to see things like aurorae on Neptune,” study co-author Heidi Hammel, an astronomer ...

Mar 26, 2025 · But auroras around our sun’s most distant planet, Neptune, have long eluded astronomers. That has changed with the powerful infrared instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope.

Mar 26, 2025 · In the JWST images of Neptune, the glowing aurora appears as splotches represented in cyan. “We’ve long expected this ion to exist on Neptune, but we needed the power of JWST to finally make the detection - this observatory has opened the window onto this last, previously hidden ionosphere of the giant planets,” explained Fletcher.

1 day ago · At the left, an enhanced-color image of Neptune from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. At the right, that image is combined with data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The cyan splotches, which represent auroral activity, and white clouds, are data from Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), overlaid on top of the ...

Mar 27, 2025 · On Neptune, the dumping point for solar particles is near the planet's equator, rather than the poles. JWST images of Neptune showing the planet's clouds (top) and auroras (bottom). (Melin et al., Nat. Astron., 2025) JWST measurements of the temperature of the distant ice giant also revealed why we've had such a hard time detecting Neptune's ...