An au-royal view! @NASAWebb captured bright auroras on Neptune, confirming their presence on the planet. This image of Neptune combines @NASAHubble’s image of Neptune from the telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 with Webb’s Near-Infared Spectograph, showing auroral activity in cyan splotches alongside white clouds. Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s magnetic field and eventually strike the upper atmosphere. The energy released during these collisions creates the signature glow. All of the other gas giants in our solar system have aurora too. Neptune’s auroras was the last to be confirmed with imagery, although NASA’s Voyager 2 flyby detected hints of their presence in 1989. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Heidi Hammel (AURA), Henrik Melin (Northumbria University), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Stefanie Milam (NASA-GSFC) #Aurora #Neptune #Hubble #Webb Image descriptions: Image 1: Image of Neptune using data from Hubble and Webb. It is a multi-hued blue orb. There are white smudges at 7 o’clock and just above 5 o’clock, and also at the center of the planet and at the top. There are cyan smudges vertically along the right side, with the top of the smudging more translucent than the bottom. Image 2: Neptune, as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a blue circle, tilted about 25 degrees to the left. There are white smudges at 7 o’clock and just above 5 o’clock.
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