The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took the second image of Uranus in 2023. The photo looks very unusual and looks more like an illustration of a fantasy story with portals to another dimension.

Images were taken using a NIRCam near-infrared camera. In the final image, not only Uranus itself, but also its rings and moons are clearly visible. The rings shine brightly in the infrared range; telescope optics even recognized the elusive, diffuse inner zeta ring (1986U2R).

The mission team said:

With his extraordinary sensitivity, Webb imaged the faint inner and outer rings of Uranus, including the elusive zeta ring, the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet.

Most of the 27 moons are also clearly visible, including some of the fainter inner moons and the five larger moons (Ariel, Miranda, Oberon, Titania, and Umbriel). In the new image, you can clearly see the seasonal cloud cover of the planet’s north pole, as well as bright storms around the cover.