The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) photographed Saturn for the first time. In the pictures taken by it, you can see both the planet and its rings.
The main purpose of JWST is to search for the first stars and galaxies in the Universe and determine the characteristics of exoplanets. But it is also used to study closer objects located in our Solar System. During its operation, JWST has already received images of Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. Now it has photographed Saturn as well.
At the moment, raw images of Saturn taken using the NIRCam near-infrared camera are available in the network. On them you can see both the planet, cloud bands in its atmosphere, and some of its moons, as well as background stars.
You can pay attention to the fact that in the infrared range, Saturn’s rings are much brighter than the planet. Because of this, in some images it seems almost invisible.
In the near future, we should expect the appearance of processed versions of these photos without noise and image artifacts. In addition, in the future, JWST will conduct observations of Saturn using the MIRI mid-infrared camera, which will provide more information about it and its famous rings.
You can also read about how JWST helped astronomers determine the time of the remaining life of Saturn’s rings.
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