Since its first images in July, the James Webb Space Telescope has been revealing stunning images of nebulas and stars. This new image brings it closer to home with the clearest view of planet Neptune and its rings since 1989.
The telescope images show the mysterious icy planet’s bright rings as well as dust bands which are fainter and rarely seen. Neptune’s rings have not been captured with such clarity since the Voyager 2 flyby over 30 years ago.
By comparison, Voyager 2 flew around 3,000 miles (4,950 kilometres) above Neptune's north pole but the James Webb telescope orbits the Sun. Neptune is the furthest planet from our central star at approximately 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometres) away, showing just how impressive the telescope is.
