This is what Saturn looks like in infrared, new photos from the James Webb telescope released

The first unprocessed images of Saturn have been published on the unofficial James Webb Space Telescope Feed, JWST Feed for short. These raw images are just a small teaser for the upcoming custom images.

The images now published were taken with the near-infrared spectrograph, or NIRcam for short, on the James Webb telescope. After the images are formatted and colored in a bit, they are likely to be breathtaking images, as you already know from the James Webb telescope.

Most of the images in the unofficial feed only show a glowing white speck, but a handful of images still stand out.

An example of such an image is shown below. The photo was taken with an exposure time of nearly 20 minutes and captured in the longwave near-infrared range. This ranges from about 2.5 to 4 microns in wavelength. In comparison, the color range we can see is between 0.4 and 0.7 microns in wavelength.

The shape of the planet as well as the rings and surrounding stars are recognizable.

In other images the rings are more clearly visible.

This photo was also taken in the longwave near-infrared range, but the lens was held open for only 258 seconds. This allows you to clearly see the planetary circumference and the rings.

In contrast, the lower image shows the cloud structures in the planetary atmosphere. Unlike the other images, the images were shot in the shortwave near-infrared range. The exposure time for these shots was also 258 seconds.

According to NASA, Saturn’s rings only reflect light in the short-wavelength, near-infrared, with a wavelength of about 2 microns. In contrast, the fog in the upper atmosphere is said to reflect light in the length range of 2 to 3 microns.

The images from the James Webb telescope were commissioned by a research group led by Leigh Fletcher at the University of Leicester. In addition to the planetology professor, the team also includes a NASA member and a researcher from the SETI Institute.

The team’s research aims to learn more about Saturn’s moons and rings using the James Webb telescope.

Images of Saturn in the mid-infrared range at wavelengths down to 100 micrometers, planned as part of the research project, have not yet been published.

(ears)