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class="main"> <section id="section-3907da6e-9e8f-48e9-916a-ebb1a445d546" data-name="section-curiosity" class="section-row none" > <div class="component-block container-fluid"> <div class="row"> <div class="section-header col-xs-12 text-center"> <h2 id="h2-3907da6e-9e8f-48e9-916a-ebb1a445d546" data-name="h2-curiosity" class="section-header__title" data-include-in-navigation="true"> Curiosity</h2> <p>What is beyond the horizon? Answering this question continually pushes human knowledge further, expanding our understanding of the natural world and our place within it. In 1990, the only planets and moons we knew of orbited the Sun. We now know of thousands of other worlds orbiting other stars, called exoplanets, opening up a new field of scientific research and new potential for putting our cosmic experience in context. Are our Earth, Sun, and solar system unique? Are we alone?</p> </div> </div> </div> </section><section id="section-76875f96-8252-46c0-995f-9f4ecc6b4448" data-name="section-worlds-of-difference" class="section-row none" > <div class="component-block container-fluid"> <div class="row"> <div class="section-header col-xs-12 text-center"> <h2 id="h2-76875f96-8252-46c0-995f-9f4ecc6b4448" data-name="h2-worlds-of-difference" class="section-header__title" data-include-in-navigation="true"> Worlds of Difference</h2> </div> </div> </div> <div class="component-block container-fluid"> <blockquote> <p><em>From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances and strive to imagine the sort of world into which we were born. Today, we have reached far into space. Our immediate neighborhood we know rather intimately. But with increasing distance our knowledge fades. … <strong>The search will continue.</strong> The urge is older than history. It is not satisfied and will not be suppressed.</em></p> <p><em>—<cite><strong>Edwin Hubble</strong></cite></em></p> </blockquote> <div class="img-desc__wrapper" data-module-dynamic="img-desc"> <div class="img-desc__image"> <figure class="captioned-img ckimage-right image half-width pull-left"><img alt="A large square infographic titled "Moons: Active Worlds" shows quadrants of different moons at the center. Clockwise from top left to bottom left: Io, Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. Thin white lines connect to labels on the outer edges of the graphic to describe each facet of the illustrations. For more detail, select View Description." class="lazyload embedded-img lazyload embedded-img lazyload" data-img-title="Moons: Active Worlds" data-lazy-srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn2400 2400w" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/STScI-J-p1934d-m2000x1796.jpg?t=tn2400 2400w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 370px, (max-width: 768px) 768px, (max-width: 992px) 992px, (max-width: 1200px) 1200px, (max-width: 1600px) 1600px, (max-width: 2400px) 2400px, 2400px" height="1796" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="2000" /> <figcaption>This infographic compares and contrasts four different moons of Jupiter and Saturn. <a href="/contents/media/images/2019/34/4543-Image" target="_self">Download the full Moons: Active Worlds infographic.</a> <em>Credit: J. Olmsted [STScI].</em></figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="img-desc__title">Moons: Active Worlds</div> <div class="img-desc__body"> <p></p> <p>Infographic titled "Moons: Active Worlds."</p> <p>The illustration shows quarters of each moon to make up one circle to help compare the composition and size of Jupiter's Io and Europa, and Saturn's Enceladus and Titan.</p> <p>An illustration of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope appears in the top left-hand corner of the graphic. The background shows faded images of Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter enters from the top and Saturn enters from the bottom, each covering approximately half of the infographic. The illustrations of the moons are broken into layers. The labels for each start at the center and work toward the surface. Label text appears as part of the bulleted descriptions below.</p> <h3>Top-left quadrant: Io</h3> <p>Located in the top-left quadrant of the infographic is Io, the second largest of the moons shown.</p> <p>It has a 1,132-mile (1,822-kilometer) radius. Layers of Io are depicted in various colors.</p> <ul class="bulleted" role="list"> <li>Its iron core is represented in gray.</li> <li>The rocky mantle is represented in burnt orange.</li> <li>The global subsurface magma layer is shown in a mix of dark red and orange.</li> <li>Its silicate surface is primarily represented in dull yellow, and circles in green and orange illustrate the varying patterns and bulges.</li> <li>Volcanoes that dot the surface are also shown in dull yellow and emit ash plumes depicted in gray.</li> <li>Sulfur plumes, shown in pink, are also emitted from Io's volcanoes.</li> <li>Its induced magnetosphere is depicted by light gray loops of increasing size that radiate out from Io.</li> </ul> <p>Io contains more than 400 active volcanoes.</p> <h3>Top-right quadrant: Europa</h3> <p>Located in the top-right quadrant, Europa is the second smallest of the moons shown.</p> <p>It has a 970-mile (1,561-kilometer) radius. Layers of Europa are depicted in various colors.</p> <ul class="bulleted" role="list"> <li>Its rocky core is depicted in a gray background overlaid with dark gray circles.</li> <li>The rocky mantle is represented in burnt orange.</li> <li>Tiny orange and dark orange triangles that represent possible hydrothermal vents show white bubbles rising from their tops. They dot the global subsurface ocean floor, which is shown in a light blue.</li> <li>Europa's ice shell is depicted light gray with oblong bubbles of white.</li> <li>Water vapor plumes, shown in light and medium shades of blue, eject into space from the surface.</li> <li>Europa's induced magnetosphere is depicted by light gray loops of increasing size, at the same height as Io's, that radiate out.</li> </ul> <p>Europa has potentially two times as much water as Earth.</p> <h3>Bottom-left quadrant: Enceladus</h3> <p>Located in the bottom-left quadrant of the infographic is Enceladus, the smallest of the moons shown.</p> <p>It has a 157-mile (252-kilometer) radius. Layers of Enceladus are depicted in various colors.</p> <ul class="bulleted" role="list"> <li>Like Europa, its rocky, porous core is depicted in a gray background overlaid with dark gray circles.</li> <li>Gray triangles along its rocky core represent hydrothermal vents.</li> <li>A light blue circle represents a subsurface sea around its core. Light blue trails travel from the subsurface sea to the surface.</li> <li>A thick ice shell, represented in light gray with oblong bubbles of white that percolate to the surface, surrounds the subsurface sea and rocky core.</li> <li>Light and medium shades of blue represent plumes of water vapor and ice particles rising above the surface.</li> </ul> <p>Tiny particles of ice are ejected at approximately 800 miles per hour from the surface of Enceladus.</p> <h3>Bottom-right quadrant: Titan</h3> <p>Located in the bottom-right quadrant of the infographic is Titan, the largest of the four moons shown.</p> <p>It has a 1,600-mile (2,575-kilometer) radius. Layers of Titan are depicted in various colors.</p> <ul class="bulleted" role="list"> <li>Its hydrosilicate core has a light brown background and is marked uniformly with brown circles to illustrate the texture.</li> <li>Just above the core, and at the base of the ocean, lies a high pressure ice shell shown in flecked gray.</li> <li>Titan's possible subsurface ocean is represented in light blue.</li> <li>Above that is a flecked gray-and-white ice shell.</li> <li>Small, dark purple methane lakes are shown at the bottom left.</li> <li>Hydrocarbon dunes are represented by yellow and medium yellow triangles.</li> <li>Titan's thick atmosphere is denoted by a transparent yellow atmosphere, which slowly fades to a dark blue color as it reaches the dark space in the background of the infographic.</li> <li>Light purple methane rain falls from large purple clouds into the previously described dark purple methane lakes.</li> </ul> <p>Titan's atmospheric pressure is about sixty percent greater than Earth's.</p> <p>Caveat at the bottom of the page states: Moons and features not to scale.</p> </div> </div> <p>Our first reference for an alien world is the Moon, and beyond that the other planets, moons, and <a href="/glossary.html#h3-CK-b336978d-0f5b-4004-a7d2-2b3038443667">dwarf planets</a> of our solar system. While each is unique and very different from the environment we know on Earth, they follow what we have come to regard as a logical organization: a single middle-aged star orbited most closely by rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), with giant planets farther out (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), plus broad fields of smaller bodies — the rocky Asteroid Belt and the icy Kuiper Belt, leftover material from the process of planet formation. Earth, the only known world with life, has vast liquid water oceans and a substantial atmosphere.</p> <p>Spacecraft missions have shown us that the moons of our solar system are also greatly varied worlds. Jupiter’s Europa has an icy crust laced with fissures that release water vapor, while its moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Saturn’s moon Titan has large surface lakes of methane. </p> <p>Since the first exoplanets were discovered orbiting a pulsar in 1992, astronomers have realized there are more and stranger varieties of worlds than we could have imagined, and many likely don’t fit into the neat plan we’ve come to recognize in our own system. For example, Proxima b, the closest exoplanet to us, is in the triple-star system Alpha Centauri. There are also Jupiter-sized gas planets orbiting very close to their star, huge rocky “super-Earths,” and “warm Neptunes.” Webb’s <a href="/contents/articles/spectroscopy-101--invisible-spectroscopy">spectroscopic instruments</a> study the <a href="/contents/articles/how-does-webb-study-our-solar-system" target="_self">atmospheres</a> of solar system worlds as well as exoplanets in other systems, determining which elements are there and what they indicate about the world, including its potential to <a href="/contents/articles/how-earth-like-are-exoplanets" target="_self">support life</a>.</p> <script>hljs.initHighlightingOnLoad();</script> </div></section><section id="section-54f390a7-18cd-4fb4-a3c1-463b0a3e0814" data-name="section-forming-worlds" class="section-row none" > <div class="component-block container-fluid"> <div class="row"> <div class="section-header col-xs-12 text-center"> <h2 id="h2-54f390a7-18cd-4fb4-a3c1-463b0a3e0814" data-name="h2-forming-worlds" class="section-header__title" data-include-in-navigation="true"> Forming Worlds</h2> </div> </div> </div> <div class="component-block container-fluid"> <div class="custom-columns mobile-swap"> <ul role="list" class="col-sm-4 float-right"> <li class="ad-research-box card" data-module-dynamic="card"> <div class="text-overlay text-overlay--dark text-center wide wide-image-overlay boxImage"> <p class="text-overlay__center"> <a href="/contents/articles/what-makes-brown-dwarfs-unique" class="no-file-icon has-icon card-link" target="_self"> What Makes Brown Dwarfs Unique?</a></p> <div class="ad-research-box__image"> <img alt="Artist's concept of a brown dwarf, which lies against the black background of space." class="text-overlay__img hover-reveal__img lazyload" loading="lazy" src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/wt-brown-dwarf.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/wt-brown-dwarf.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/wt-brown-dwarf.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/wt-brown-dwarf.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/wt-brown-dwarf.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/wt-brown-dwarf.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 370px" /></div></div> </li> </ul> <div> <p>The diversity of other worlds is a result of the <a href="/science/the-star-life-cycle" target="_self">diversity of stars</a> and the content of the <a href="/glossary.html#h3-CK-122bdd9a-60d4-405e-b4f2-9e04e6081d16">nebulae</a> from which they both form. As a nebula of gas and dust swirls around a young <a href="/glossary.html#h3-CK-8defd830-8923-41ce-86bf-e6fa53e2b3af">protostar</a>, the building blocks of a planetary system can come together in many ways. The original material in the nebula determines the composition of the star(s), planets, moons, and asteroids that may form as complex processes transform tiny specks of dust into great worlds.</p> <p>Webb’s ability to observe as far as the <a href="/contents/media/images/4188-Image" target="_self">mid-infrared</a> portion of the light spectrum allows astronomers to study planet formation in dusty <a href="/contents/media/videos/2018/14/1017-Video" target="_self">protoplanetary disks</a> that block visible light, providing new clues to the enduring mysteries of how the universe works, and how our own home system was formed.</p> <p><a href="/glossary.html#h3-CK-3638b3e7-aa22-480f-83ea-d22b13081886">Brown dwarf</a> formation is a specific mystery that astronomers are beginning to investigate with Webb. Brown dwarfs defy easy definition, having properties of both planets and stars. Like a planet, brown dwarfs can have atmospheres with thick clouds, but they have masses many times the size of the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. However, they are not massive enough to generate their own light like a star. Yet some brown dwarfs have been found in a binary relationship with a star. These unique qualities make the formation process of brown dwarfs uncertain — is it like a star, by the contraction of gas? Or like a planet, by the <a href="/glossary.html#h3-CK-a19c0965-15bb-4328-bf8e-0e2a6f8903ec">accretion</a> of material in a protoplanetary disk? The answers will shed light not only on the ambiguous nature of brown dwarfs, but on the formation of stars and planets as well.</p> </div> </div> </div></section><section id="section-db3c3b67-4fa2-4f82-b786-86810bc7cb14" data-name="section-related-material" class="section-row light-background-outreach-light-grey" > <div class="component-block container-fluid"> <div class="row"> <div class="section-header col-xs-12 text-center"> <h2 id="h2-db3c3b67-4fa2-4f82-b786-86810bc7cb14" data-name="h2-related-material" class="section-header__title" data-include-in-navigation="true"> Related Material</h2> </div> </div> </div> <div class="component-block container-fluid adbox-icons"> <ul role="list" class="content-block-wrapper justify-content-center non-hover-adbox-container "> <li class="content-prev-wrapper text-center"> <div class="content-prev flex-col card" data-module-dynamic="card"> <h3 id="h3-adbox-text-under-image-9ad9da39-c3ab-400d-9a4d-eb89986d15a6" class="content-prev__head large-preview"> <a href="/contents/articles/webbs-impact-on-exoplanet-research" class="has-icon no-file-icon card-link" target="_self"> Webb's Impact on Exoplanet Research</a></h3> <div class="content-prev__image"> <picture class="flex-ratio"><img alt="Occupying the left two-thirds of the image is a foreground planet mostly in shadow. On the right side, a tan crescent shows subtle surface features. A thin, tenuous blue atmosphere lines the planet’s limb. On the right, a small red globe represents a red dwarf star. Its surface is mottled with small, dark spots resembling sunspots. Both planet and star are on a mostly black background speckled with hundreds of faint, distant stars." class="lazyload" loading="lazy" src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></picture><noscript><img alt="Occupying the left two-thirds of the image is a foreground planet mostly in shadow. On the right side, a tan crescent shows subtle surface features. A thin, tenuous blue atmosphere lines the planet’s limb. On the right, a small red globe represents a red dwarf star. Its surface is mottled with small, dark spots resembling sunspots. Both planet and star are on a mostly black background speckled with hundreds of faint, distant stars." class="noscript-img " src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/studying-diverse-exoplanets/STScI-J-StudyDiverseExoplanets-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></noscript></div> </div></li> <li class="content-prev-wrapper text-center"> <div class="content-prev flex-col card" data-module-dynamic="card"> <h3 id="h3-adbox-text-under-image-5fc65311-b621-4085-9b24-47714fa2474b" class="content-prev__head large-preview"> <a href="/contents/media/videos/01J8Z2ND7MV0YN17N2YW0KDWF6" class="has-icon no-file-icon card-link" target="_self"> How to Study Exoplanets: Webb and Challenges</a></h3> <div class="content-prev__image"> <picture class="flex-ratio"><img alt="Artist’s concept of a star at left and an exoplanet at right against the dark background of space, which has a few small points of light scattered across it. The title of the video, “How to Study Exoplanets: Webb and Challenges,” is set in white text on two lines in the center of the frame." class="lazyload" loading="lazy" src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></picture><noscript><img alt="Artist’s concept of a star at left and an exoplanet at right against the dark background of space, which has a few small points of light scattered across it. The title of the video, “How to Study Exoplanets: Webb and Challenges,” is set in white text on two lines in the center of the frame." class="noscript-img " src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-how-to-study-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></noscript></div> </div></li> <li class="content-prev-wrapper text-center"> <div class="content-prev flex-col card" data-module-dynamic="card"> <h3 id="h3-adbox-text-under-image-7bc54487-dde3-4f5c-81bc-2d737609fc7a" class="content-prev__head large-preview"> <a href="https://webbtelescope.org/news/news-releases?Tag=Exoplanets" class="has-icon no-file-icon card-link" target="_self"> Webb’s Latest News About Exoplanets</a></h3> <div class="content-prev__image"> <picture class="flex-ratio"><img alt="Illustration of a bright yellow star and a blue gas giant planet with no obvious patterns or structure." class="lazyload" loading="lazy" src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></picture><noscript><img alt="Illustration of a bright yellow star and a blue gas giant planet with no obvious patterns or structure." class="noscript-img " src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/webb-science/other-worlds/_images/adbox-releases-exoplanets.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></noscript></div> </div></li> <li class="content-prev-wrapper text-center"> <div class="content-prev flex-col card" data-module-dynamic="card"> <h3 id="h3-adbox-text-under-image-3ae6aae3-a002-491e-b027-52d01dca2be2" class="content-prev__head large-preview"> <a href="/contents/articles/exploring-our-solar-system-with-webb" class="has-icon no-file-icon card-link" target="_self"> Exploring Our Solar System with Webb</a></h3> <div class="content-prev__image"> <picture class="flex-ratio"><img alt="The background is mostly dark. At the center is a dark orange-brownish circle, surrounded by several blazing bright, thick, horizontal whiteish rings. This is Saturn and its rings. There are three tiny organ-like dots in the image. The rings surrounding Saturn are mostly broad, with a few singular narrow gaps between the broader rings." class="lazyload" loading="lazy" src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1600 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 992px) 50vw, 360px" /></picture><noscript><img alt="The background is mostly dark. At the center is a dark orange-brownish circle, surrounded by several blazing bright, thick, horizontal whiteish rings. This is Saturn and its rings. There are three tiny organ-like dots in the image. The rings surrounding Saturn are mostly broad, with a few singular narrow gaps between the broader rings." class="noscript-img " src="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370" srcset="/files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn370 370w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn768 768w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn992 992w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1200 1200w, /files/live/sites/webb/files/home/resource-gallery/articles/_images/exploring-our-solar-system/STScI-J-Exploring-SS-t-768x384.jpg?t=tn1600 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