WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.036 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a new 2 00:00:03.036 --> 00:00:06.639 look at colorful auroras, but not here on Earth. 3 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:10.577 Recent observations of Neptune, the most distant planet from the Sun, 4 00:00:10.577 --> 00:00:14.547 have shown a sky full of vivid cyan stretching across the planet's 5 00:00:14.547 --> 00:00:16.016 upper atmosphere. 6 00:00:16.016 --> 00:00:19.419 These light blue splotches, seen all around the planet, are packed 7 00:00:19.419 --> 00:00:23.723 with information about how the gas giant’s atmosphere behaves. 8 00:00:23.723 --> 00:00:27.961 Auroras happen when energetic particles, often originating from the sun, 9 00:00:27.961 --> 00:00:32.399 become trapped in a planet's magnetic field and strike the upper atmosphere. 10 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:36.636 The energy released during these collisions creates their signature glow. 11 00:00:36.636 --> 00:00:40.673 However, what has been observed in Neptune is noticeably different from what 12 00:00:40.673 --> 00:00:42.842 we are accustomed to seeing here on Earth, 13 00:00:42.842 --> 00:00:46.346 or even on planets closer to it, like Jupiter or Saturn. 14 00:00:46.346 --> 00:00:50.183 Instead of being confined to the planet's northern and southern poles, 15 00:00:50.183 --> 00:00:54.087 Neptune's auroras are located at the planet's mid-latitudes. 16 00:00:54.087 --> 00:00:57.624 This is due to the strange nature of Neptune's magnetic field 17 00:00:57.624 --> 00:01:00.960 that astronomers are still actively investigating. 18 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.764 In 1989, the Voyager II spacecraft made a flyby approach 19 00:01:04.764 --> 00:01:09.936 that first confirmed Neptune's magnetic field is tilted by 47 degrees. 20 00:01:09.936 --> 00:01:13.306 Since aurora activity is based where the magnetic fields converge 21 00:01:13.306 --> 00:01:18.278 into the planet's atmosphere, its aurora are seen far from its rotational poles. 22 00:01:18.278 --> 00:01:21.781 With this new data from Webb, the temperature at the top of Neptune's 23 00:01:21.781 --> 00:01:25.752 atmosphere was measured for the first time since that flyby occurred. 24 00:01:25.752 --> 00:01:27.120 And the results hint at why 25 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.890 these auroras have remained hidden from astronomers for so long. 26 00:01:30.890 --> 00:01:35.829 Surprisingly, Neptune's upper atmosphere has cooled by several hundred degrees, 27 00:01:35.829 --> 00:01:39.732 and a substantially colder temperature results in much fainter auroras 28 00:01:39.732 --> 00:01:44.304 that can only be detected using Webb’s powerful scientific instruments. 29 00:01:44.304 --> 00:01:47.474 This cooling also suggests that this region of its atmosphere 30 00:01:47.474 --> 00:01:50.810 can change dramatically, even though the planet sits over 31 00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:54.214 30 times farther from the Sun compared to Earth. 32 00:01:54.214 --> 00:01:58.017 These observations were made using one of Webb's powerful onboard 33 00:01:58.017 --> 00:02:02.122 scientific instruments, known as the Near-Infrared spectrograph, 34 00:02:02.122 --> 00:02:05.291 and for the very first time, scientists have confirmed the presence of 35 00:02:05.291 --> 00:02:10.797 trihydrogen cation, a chemical compound commonly known to be created in auroras. 36 00:02:10.797 --> 00:02:13.533 These discoveries help scientists to better understand 37 00:02:13.533 --> 00:02:17.070 how Neptune's magnetic field interacts with particles that stream 38 00:02:17.070 --> 00:02:20.206 out from the sun to the distant reaches of our solar system. 39 00:02:20.206 --> 00:02:22.275 Webb’s infrared capabilities are helping 40 00:02:22.275 --> 00:02:25.178 to reveal details that have never been seen before, 41 00:02:25.178 --> 00:02:29.282 opening up a window into studying ice giant atmospheres. 42 00:02:29.282 --> 00:02:31.751 When Webb's observations are combined with data from 43 00:02:31.751 --> 00:02:33.586 the Hubble Space Telescope and others, 44 00:02:33.586 --> 00:02:36.890 the picture of what's happening on Neptune is becoming much more clear. 45 00:02:36.890 --> 00:02:40.660 [ WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE ] 46 00:02:40.660 --> 00:02:50.270 [ NASA ]