James Webb Space Telescope opened a new cosmic window to the history of humanity, revealing the long -term bright aurora of Neptune’s secrets. Neptune, known as the ice giant, was the only planet without any concrete evidence of aurora. This discovery has initiated new discussions in the astronomy community and presented important clues about this remote corner of the Solar System.
Neptune, which is located on the outer borders of the Solar System, is about 5 billion kilometers away, is a neighbor who still maintains its mystery for humanity. In 1989, Voyager 2 had gathered a lot of information from the atmosphere of the planet to the rings. In this process, the symptoms of Aurora triggered by the magnetic field were observed, but these light shows could not be verified. Webb telescope, on the other hand, has documented this complex and fascinating event with details and passed to the history of science.
Unusual dance of aurora
The data obtained by the infrared spectrography of WebB showed that Neptune auroras behave quite differently from the examples of other planets. Auroras, usually concentrated in the polar regions, were observed in the latitudes close to the equator in Neptune. This extraordinary activity is thought to be due to the fact that the magnetic field of the planet is 47 degrees curved compared to the return axis. Neptune’s unique magnetic field makes these light shows even more interesting.
Auroras in Neptune are expanding scientists’ understanding of magnetic fields in the Solar System. Although Pioneer and Voyager tasks since the 1970s have been learned about the auroras on other planets, Neptune’s auroras were the missing part of this picture. WebB’s discovery filling this gap and brought one step closer to completing the cosmic puzzle.
These new findings open the door to future research to examine the atmospheric and magnetic structure of Neptune. Scientists hope to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the external borders of the Solar System with the data provided by WebB and to better solve the nature of ice giants.
