See the latest James Webb Space Telescope images<\/a> and an image of Uranus captured by Hubble and New Horizons<\/a><\/p>\n We\u2019re used to seeing Uranus<\/a> as a light blue disc, but the view of the planet through Webb\u2019s infrared<\/a> eye is startlingly different.<\/p>\n In this new image of Uranus we can see the planet\u2019s seasonal north polar cloud cap, including the white inner cap and a dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap.<\/p>\n Webb has also managed to capture a host of bright storms that can be seen near and below the southern border of the polar cap.<\/p>\n Most obsvious in this Webb image of Uranus are its rings, which may come as a surprise to some.<\/p>\n Saturn isn’t the only planet in our Solar System with rings. Jupiter has rings<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n Relative to the other planets of the Solar System<\/a>, Uranus spins on its side, which is why we can see its rings face-on (compared to, for example, our view of Saturn\u2019s rings<\/a>).<\/p>\n It takes about 84 Earth years for Uranus to make one orbit of the Sun, and for about a quarter of one Uranus year, the Sun shines over one pole.<\/p>\n This plunges the other side of Uranus into a long, dark winter lasting about 21 Earth years.<\/p>\n Uranus\u2019s polar cap becomes more prominent as it approaches solstice, as this is when the planet\u2019s pole begins to point toward the Sun and receives more sunlight.<\/p>\n Uranus will reach its next solstice in 2028, so studies like this latest Webb capture – and more to follow – give astronomers a chance to track changes in these features.<\/p>\n By learning more about the seasonal and meteorological features on Uranus and how they change over time, astronomers hope to be able to untangle the secrets of the planet\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2023, scientists released possibly the most spectacular view of Uranus ever seen. The image was captured by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-628510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/webb-uranus.jpg\")
A view of Uranus, its rings and moons captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
\nUranus in infrared<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/webb-uranus-widefield.jpeg\")
A wide-field view of Uranus captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
\nUranus\u2019s spin and solstice<\/p>\n