NASA's Webb telescope spots elusive ring of Uranus and its glittering Moons

After training its eyes on Uranus earlier this year, the James Webb Space Telescope is ending 2023 with a thrilling picture of the icy giant. In its recent observation, Webb has spotted Uranus's dim outer rings as well as the elusive Zeta ring- the extremely faint and diffused one close to the planet.

Interestingly, some of Uranus's 27 Moons are also visible orbiting the planet. Uranus has always been an intriguing subject for astronomers for its unique characteristics. The planet rotates on its side, nearly 90 degrees from the plane of its orbit which brings extreme seasons at its poles.

Since Uranus completes one orbit in 84 years, one of the poles receives sunlight while the other side faces winter for about 21 years. As of April, it was spring in the northern pole and it will experience summer in 2028.

“One of the most striking of these is the planet’s seasonal north polar cloud cap. Compared to the Webb image from earlier this year, some details of the cap are easier to see in these newer images,” NASA said in an official statement. “Several bright storms can also be seen near and below the southern border of the polar cap,” it further said describing the picture. 

Since the planet's pole is gradually pointing toward the Sun, scientists hope the Webb will help decode the seasonal and meteorological effects that influence Uranus’s storms.

Thanks to Webb's unparalleled infrared vision, scientists also believe that the newly found Zeta ring will help in planning future missions to Uranus. 

“Uranus can also serve as a proxy for studying the nearly 2,000 similarly sized exoplanets that have been discovered in the last few decades,” said NASA. It also says that it can help understand the formation of planets like Uranus form, how they work and what their meteorology is like.