# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CuHxg2WOSiN
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/7843856-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/aa652b6912.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-06-30T16:36:56.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Of course Saturn brought its ring light 🪐⁣
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The James Webb Space Telescope took its first near-infrared look at Saturn on June 25. The planet appears extremely dark at this wavelength, as methane gas in its atmosphere absorbs sunlight — but its rings stay bright!⁣
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This image was taken as part of a Webb science program designed to test the telescope’s capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and study its bright rings. Take a closer look here to find details within the planet's ring system, as well as the moons Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys. Saturn’s rings are made up of an array of rocky and icy fragments – the particles range in size from smaller than a grain of sand to a few as large as mountains on Earth.⁣
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Learn more at the link in NASAWebb’s bio.⁣
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Image descriptions:⁣
Two-part swipe through of a Webb image of Saturn, its rings and moons. The background is mostly dark. Saturn is seen as a dark orange-brown circle (split between the two images), surrounded by several blazing bright, thick, horizontal whiteish rings. There are three tiny dots on the left side of the first image. These are three of Saturn’s moons. From top to bottom, they are Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys, respectively. There is a slightly darker tint at the northern and southern poles of the planet. The rings surrounding Saturn are mostly broad, with a few singular narrow gaps between the broader rings. There is an innermost, thicker ring, and next to that is a brighter, wider ring. Traveling farther outward, there is a small dark gap before another thicker ring. In the thicker ring, there is a narrow faint band. There is then an outermost, faintest, thinnest ring.⁣
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Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Matt Tiscareno (SETI Institute), Matt Hedman (University of Idaho), Maryame El Moutamid (Cornell University), Mark Showalter (SETI Institute), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Heidi Hammel (AURA). Image processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)⁣
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 #JWST #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #NASA #Saturn #Rings #Planets #Moons #SolarSystem #Space

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## Tags

jameswebbspacetelescope, nasa, planets, space, moons, saturn, rings, solarsystem, jwst

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