The astronomer Rafael Bachiller reveals to us in this series the most spectacular phenomena of the Cosmos. Pulsating research topics, astronomical adventures and scientific news about the Universe analyzed in depth.
the space telescope James Webb has captured an image of Saturn in the infrared that shows us an unknown and surprising facet of the giant of the rings.
Among the many tasks that have been entrusted to the Webb telescope are observations of the planets in our solar system. When working in the infrared, this telescope has already offered us unusual images, for example, of Jupiter with its auroras and of Uranus with its rings. Now it is Saturn’s turn.
The image that has recently been made public has been taken in a monochromatic infrared filter centered at 3.23 microns of wavelength, characteristic of methane. The planet’s disk appears quite dark, indicating a high methane content in the upper atmosphere, a compound that absorbs this wavelength of light that the planet is receiving from the Sun.
The northern hemisphere of the planet appears somewhat brighter than the southern hemisphere due to the seasonal differences that one would expect: it is summer in the north, while the southern hemisphere is at the end of winter. However, a deep darkness is observed at the north pole that is not known to what is due.
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