{"id":350030,"date":"2026-03-27T05:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350030\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T05:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:13:19","slug":"webb-and-hubble-telescopes-capture-saturn-in-unprecedented-detail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350030\/","title":{"rendered":"Webb and Hubble Telescopes Capture Saturn in Unprecedented Detail"},"content":{"rendered":"

By combining infrared observations from the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light imagery from the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have produced new views of Saturn, revealing atmospheric bands, storms and brilliantly reflective rings.<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a><\/p>\n

These Webb (left) and Hubble (right) images reveal Saturn in infrared and visible light. Image credit: NASA \/ ESA \/ CSA \/ STScI \/ A. Simon, NASA-GSFC \/ M. Wong, University of California \/ J. DePasquale, STScI.<\/p>\n

The newly-released images of Saturn highlight features from the gas giant\u2019s busy atmosphere.<\/p>\n

In the Webb image, a long-lived jet stream known as the \u2018ribbon wave\u2019 meanders across the northern mid-latitudes, influenced by otherwise undetectable atmospheric waves.<\/p>\n

Just below that, a small spot represents a lingering remnant from the \u2018great springtime storm\u2019 of 2011 to 2012.<\/p>\n

Several other storms dotting the southern hemisphere of Saturn are visible in the Webb image, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these features are shaped by powerful winds and waves beneath the visible cloud deck, making Saturn a natural laboratory for studying fluid dynamics under extreme conditions,\u201d the astronomers said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of the pointed edges of Saturn\u2019s iconic hexagon-shaped jet stream<\/a> at its north pole, discovered by NASA\u2019s Voyager spacecraft in 1981, are also faintly visible in both images.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt remains one of the Solar System\u2019s most intriguing weather patterns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIts persistence over decades highlights the stability of certain large-scale atmospheric processes on giant planets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are likely the last high-resolution looks we\u2019ll see of the famous hexagon until the 2040s, as the northern pole enters winter and will shift into darkness for 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the new Webb observations, Saturn\u2019s poles appear distinctly gray-green, indicating light emitting at wavelengths around 4.3 microns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis distinct feature could come from a layer of high-altitude aerosols in Saturn\u2019s atmosphere that scatters light differently at those latitudes,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother possible explanation is auroral activity, as charged molecules interacting with the planet\u2019s magnetic field can produce glowing emissions near the poles.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Webb image, the Saturn\u2019s rings are extremely bright because they are made of highly reflective water ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn both images, we\u2019re seeing the sunlit face of the rings, a little less so in the Hubble image, hence the shadows visible underneath on the planet,\u201d the scientists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are also subtle ring features such as spokes and structure in the B ring (the thick central region of the rings) that appear differently between the two observatories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe F ring, the outermost ring, looks thin and crisp in the Webb image, while it only slightly glows in the Hubble image.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturn\u2019s orbit around the Sun, combined with the position of Earth in its annual orbit, determines our changing viewing angle of Saturn\u2019s face and ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese 2024 observations, taken 14 weeks apart, show the planet moving from northern summer toward the 2025 equinox.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Saturn transitions into southern spring, and later southern summer in the 2030s, Hubble and Webb will have progressively better views of that hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By combining infrared observations from the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light imagery from the NASA\/ESA Hubble…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3320,1022,30684,15110,3323,111,139,69,19794,6247,52481,147,3145,3329],"class_list":["post-350030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-csa","tag-esa","tag-gas-giant","tag-hubble","tag-nasa","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-planet","tag-saturn","tag-saturns-rings","tag-science","tag-solar-system","tag-webb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}