August 4, 2026 1:32 PM

Webb telescope finds signs of ancient disaster for Neptune’s moons

New observations of some of Neptune's moons and rings are providing evidence of a catastrophe that occurred billions of years ago around the solar system's outermost planet in which a Pluto-sized interloper caused a celestial demolition derby. Researchers used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to examine the composition of three of Neptune's small inner moons — Proteus, Larissa and Galatea — and its inner dusty rings, and detected clay minerals that one might expect to find deep inside cert...