Photo of the Day
Neptune's rings, seen again
Wednesday 23 September 2026
Neptune was discovered on 23 September 1846.
Neptune and its faint rings photographed in infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022, the clearest view of the rings in more than thirty years. Neptune was discovered on 23 September 1846, found within a degree of where mathematics said it should be.
Fun facts
- Neptune was predicted on paper before it was seen: Urbain Le Verrier calculated its position from wobbles in Uranus's orbit, and Johann Galle found it within a degree of the prediction on the first night of looking. source ↗
- In visible light Neptune looks blue, but in Webb's infrared the methane in its atmosphere absorbs so strongly that the planet itself is dark; the bright, ghostly-white areas are high clouds reflecting sunlight before it can be absorbed. source ↗
- The bright patches are high-altitude clouds of methane ice. source ↗
- A year on Neptune lasts about 165 Earth years; it has completed just one orbit since its discovery. source ↗
- Image
- NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; image processing Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Naomi Rowe-Gurney (NASA-GSFC)
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons