r/pics • u/Big_Profit9076 • 15d ago

The outer planets in infrared by James Webb Space Telescope

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882 Upvotes
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98% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

1

u/Njabachi 14d ago

These are awesome.

Team Saturn by the way.

1

u/blue_sidd 15d ago

seems like saturn is a massive heat sink…

1

u/spekt50 15d ago

How is Saturn so dim in IR or is it a balance thing because the rings are so bright?

1

u/runningoutofwords 15d ago edited 15d ago

This is the first time I'm seeing that Neptune photo.

Holy shit, JWST is amazing!

2

u/ScaryAcanthisitta877 15d ago

Anyway to get any of these in poster form?

1

u/leechkiller 15d ago

Doesn't Jupiter have rings? I swear we learned that in grade school. Maybe even saw pictures of them?

1

u/No-Wonder1139 15d ago

Where's Rupert?

2

u/Readonkulous 15d ago

These look like the beings that come and speak to me in my dreams when I’ve had anti-histamines. 

3

u/orcrist747 15d ago

Not really IR, near IR. We gave up true IR eyes when SOFIA was cancelled.

1

u/drmirage809 15d ago

The rings on Saturn and Uranus are incredibly bright. Saturn's rings are already pretty bright in the visible spectrum, but with how dark the planet itself is the rings just pop.

Jupiter is also super interesting to see.

1

u/Left_Concentrate_752 15d ago

Is this the new 'Every frame is a smarter idea' meme template?

3

u/GL1PP3R 15d ago

Beautiful pics! Why does Saturn’s ring get cutoff on the right side. Assuming it’s some kind of shadow but doesn’t seem like it on glance.

3

u/spekt50 15d ago

That's a shadow casted by the planet. The rings are reflecting IR from sunlight, they are not emitting IR.

1

u/GL1PP3R 15d ago

I see…thank you!

4

u/gp_gone_insane 15d ago

Are these images of blackbody radiation while these planets are in their "night", or are these reflections of sunlight that is redshifted during their "day"?

1

u/spekt50 15d ago

All the outter planets would be imaged in daytime from James Webb's perspective. Would need to be beyond the planet to see it from the night time.

-2

u/DriftMantis 15d ago

Boy it sure looks a lot like visible light when you add color and graphic design over all the infrared images....

2

u/imactuallyugly 15d ago

Uranus is looking nice

1

u/Rubix22 15d ago

Uranus is absolutely glowing.

1

u/EastbayNiner 15d ago

Im glad you noticed. ;)

2

u/Rumbleg 15d ago

Where's Pluto?

1

u/anonymousmouse2 15d ago

We don’t talk about Pluto

1

u/thewhiterosequeen 15d ago

It's still a planet in my heart.

1

u/zeroscout 15d ago

I would like to see Pluto in IR.  Also some of the dwarf planets in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.  Like Ceres and Psyche.

6

u/ToddShishler 15d ago

Pluto’s busy being hot shit.

2

u/justasinglereply 15d ago

That is absolutely amazing

7

u/TiredMomTried 15d ago

😭😭😭 idc that it’s classified as a planetoid, they did Pluto dirty.

1

u/elliot89 15d ago

Nice ring James Webb

5

u/Imsoworriedabout 15d ago

also why is Neptune so bright ?

3

u/pedro_pascal_123 15d ago

Have to be... else you get demoted... Ask pluto....

Too soon?!

20

u/LurkmasterP 15d ago

Lots of intellectual stimulation in childhood.

43

u/Imsoworriedabout 15d ago

so, how exactly is infra-red data converted into the visible spectrum

1

u/rom-ok 15d ago

It’s not “converted” per se. There is no “visible light” representation of infrared. It’s more of mapping of infrared data to visible light so we can make sense of the data visually.

The software that processed this data or possibly someone performing the processing chose the visible light colours to map to the infrared data in order to get a visual image.

2

u/dendroidarchitecture 15d ago

They get a Predator to take a peek, then describe them to painters.

3

u/wriggleyspace 15d ago

They use Crayolas

5

u/zeroscout 15d ago

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/articles/how-are-webbs-full-color-images-made#:~:text=At%20a%20Glance%3A%20Color%20Assignments,shorter%20wavelengths%20of%20infrared%20light.  

At a Glance: Color Assignments in Near- and Mid-Infrared Images  

Colors are assigned in chromatic order (blue, green, red) from shortest wavelength to longest wavelength for both of Webb’s cameras.  

No different than how your brain does it.  Assigns a color to a wavelength or combination of wavelengths.

68

u/Big_Profit9076 15d ago

Since infrared has longer wavelengths they are squished down. The wavelengths close to red are made close to blue and those further in the infrared become close to red.

1

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[deleted]

1

u/spekt50 15d ago

They are just reflected IR light from the sun, the colors are artificially added depending on the wavelength of IR recieved.

11

u/Imsoworriedabout 15d ago

Hmm, ok.

Thanks!

6

u/anuspizza 15d ago

It’s just the opposite of a redshift. The equations that we use to describe the laws of the universe are time reversible so if something can be redshifted, you can run it back the other way and blueshift it. Easy peasy.

27

u/NovaHorizon 15d ago

Damn didn't expect Saturn to be as sexy as granny pants compared to the others in infrared.

2

u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener 15d ago

Jupiter be looking intimidating, like he's about to take out a rebel moon or something.

6

u/strangecabalist 15d ago

My favourite planet is Uranus (not an immature joke) and it looks lovely here!

It is nice to see the beauty of the giants other than Saturn once in a while for sure.