Neptune’s Supernal Rings

By Harley White posted 10-11-2022 08:48

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Neptune’s Supernal Rings

The planet Neptune for god of the sea
was titled from Roman mythology.
His wife Salacia three sons Neptune bore
with Triton most celebrated in lore
both Greek and Roman as merman, then famed
as the largest moon of Neptune so named.

While three decades back faint rings were spotted
though merely a few of those allotted,
by dint of the James Webb telescope view
recently captured along with bright blue
of Triton that’s spied in the upper left,
we gain clear look through its camera deft.

Neptune is the planet eighth from the Sun,
ice giant, with Triton the largest one
of satellites natural going round
about its dense mass although duty-bound
to cruise in an orbit that’s retrograde,
quite rare in the Solar System parade.

One hundred sixty-five years is the span
of tour in Neptune’s empyreal plan
for making rotation sidereal
in journey around star imperial
compared to earthly year passage of time
from new year to the old year’s midnight chime.

In visible light Neptune blue appears
as normally pictured in solar spheres
but cannot be glimpsed by unaided eyes
due to its distance related to size,
albeit Webb’s Cam in Near-Infrared
rendered it through its glass darkly instead.

What further marvels that planet may grace
‘midst myriad wonders in heavens’ space
awaiting disclosure for humans’ sight,
if e’er their reality’s brought to light,
remain to be seen provided Man can
prove to be more than a ‘flash in the pan’.

~ Harley White

* * * * * * * * *

Some sources of inspiration were the following…

New Webb image captures clearest view of Neptune’s rings in decades (ESA)…
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/New_Webb_image_captures_clearest_view_of_Neptune_s_rings_in_decades

NASA’S Webb captured the clearest view of Neptune’s rings in decades…
https://www.techexplorist.com/nasa-webb-captured-clearest-view-neptunes-rings-decades/53922/

Explanation: Webb’s latest image, with its ghostly, ethereal views of the planet and its dust bands, rings and moons, is the clearest look at Neptune’s rings in 30 plus years, and our first time seeing them in infrared light. Some of these rings have not been detected since Voyager 2 flew by in 1989. In latest image of the ice giant Neptune, Webb captured seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons… Neptune’s large and unusual moon, Triton, dominates this Webb portrait of Neptune as a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffraction spikes seen in many of Webb’s images… Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns, so Neptune does not appear blue to Webb. In fact, the methane gas so strongly absorbs red and infrared light that the planet is quite dark at these near-infrared wavelengths, except where high-altitude clouds are present. Such methane-ice clouds are prominent as bright streaks and spots, which reflect sunlight before it is absorbed by methane gas…

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

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