The James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of Neptune, taken on July 12, 2022, brings the planet’s rings into full focus for the first time in more than three decades.

In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft took the first pics of Neptune’s rings. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is providing a more detailed look.

Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of Neptune, taken on July 12, 2022, brings the planet's rings into full focus for the first time in more than three decades.

Neptune’s not often seen rings, seen by The James Webb Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every ...

The solar system’s most distant planet sits 1.1° due north of Saturn, placing them together in a single telescopic field of view all night.

The observatory's views, released Wednesday, include rare looks at Neptune's rings, providing some of the sharpest images of these ghostly features seen in more than 30 years, according to NASA.

Despite our inability to admire Neptune's fragile hoops from here, scientists caught a wonderful glimpse of them girding the azure realm in 1989 thanks to NASA's traveling probe Voyager -- and on ...

The last time scientists caught such a clear glimpse of Neptune's rings was when Voyager 2 flew past the distant planet in 1989. Now the James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a crisp new image.

While Neptune’s methane gas makes the planet appear blue in Hubble Space Telescope and Voyager 2 images, the James Webb Space Telescope uses infrared light that can’t be seen by the human eye.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 27, 2022, Section D, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Webb’s Wonders: Neptune and Its Rings Come Into Focus.

Webb's extremely stable and precise image quality permits these very faint rings to be detected so close to Neptune. Neptune has fascinated researchers since its discovery in 1846.

It's the clearest view of the planet's dusty rings since the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Neptune in 1989. The telescope is in orbit 1 million miles from Earth, aiming to capture light from ...