She is also Vice President for Science at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) in Washington, D.C. These studies will be conducted through a Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) program of the solar system led by Heidi Hammel, a planetary scientist and Webb Interdisciplinary Scientist. If these chemicals are being produced by sunlight interacting with the atmosphere, or if they’re being redistributed from place to place by large-scale circulation patterns, Webb will be able to see that. Crucially, Webb can distinguish one chemical from another. That’s partly because they’re so far away from the Sun, they’re smaller in size and rotate slower on their axes, but also because the blend of gases and the amount of atmospheric mixing is very different compared with Jupiter and Saturn.”Īll the gases in the upper atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune have unique chemical fingerprints that Webb can detect. “We think that the weather and climate of the ice giants are going to have a fundamentally different character compared to the gas giants.

“The key thing that Webb can do that is very, very difficult to accomplish from any other facility is map their atmospheric temperature and chemical structure,” explained the studies’ leader, Leigh Fletcher, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Scientists using Webb plan to study the circulation patterns, chemistry and weather of Uranus and Neptune in a way only Webb can. They represent the least-explored category of planet in our solar system. The cold and remote giant planets Uranus and Neptune are nicknamed the “ice giants” because their interiors are compositionally different from Jupiter and Saturn, which are richer in hydrogen and helium, and are known as the “gas giants.” The ice giants are also much smaller than their gaseous cousins, being intermediate in size between terrestrial planets and the gas giants. Showalter (SETI Institute) Right: NASA, ESA, L.

Neptune webb telescope