A stunning image of our solar system’s icy giant, planet Uranuscaptured the spaceship James Webb Telescopedeveloped by NASAThe European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The new image shows off his impressive rings. Uranus has 13 known rings, eleven of which are visible in these images. Among them are two fainter rings of dust that have been imaged just twice more, by the Voyager 2 spacecraft that flew by the planet in 1986 and by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii with advanced adaptive optics.

Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, is unique: it rotates sideways, at an angle of nearly 90 degrees from the plane of its orbit. This causes extreme seasons, as its poles experience many years of continuous sunlight, followed by an equal number of years of complete darkness. Currently, it is late spring at the north pole, which is visible, while summer at the north pole will be in 2028. In contrast, when Voyager 2 visited Uranus it was summer at the south pole, which is now on the dark side of the planet .

In James Webb’s images, we see the planet in more detail, demonstrating just how dynamic Uranus’ atmosphere is. On the right side of the planet is an area of ​​glow at the Sun-facing pole known as the ‘polar cap’ – it appears to appear when the pole enters direct sunlight in summer and disappears in autumn. The data recorded by the space telescope will help scientists understand the currently mysterious mechanism behind this feature.

James Webb also imaged many of the 27 known moons of Uranus.