For the first time ever, JWST has detected auroras on Neptune. After more than 30 years of eluding detection from Earth, Neptune’s faint polar glow has finally been caught by the James Webb Space Telescope.In observations made in June 2023, JWST’s near-infrared camera picked up clear signatures of trihydrogen cations (H₃⁺) — molecules that form when energetic particles from the Sun slam into the planet’s upper atmosphere and light it up. The international team, led by Henrik Melin at the University of Leicester, made the breakthrough discovery.Voyager 2 gave us the first hints of Neptune’s auroras during its 1989 flyby, but no telescope had been able to confirm them since. Now we understand why: Neptune’s upper atmosphere has dramatically cooled — by several hundred degrees — over the last three decades. As a result, the auroral emission has faded to just 1% of its 1989 brightness.A distant ice giant quietly dimming its lights… until JWST’s powerful infrared eyes finally revealed the ghostly glow once again.This detection not only confirms Neptune’s auroras but also gives us a rare window into how the planet’s atmosphere is changing over time. Another beautiful example of how JWST is rewriting our understanding of the outer solar system.
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