This is the first time observed: the James Webb Space Telescope snaps Saturn in full glory

The first near-infrared images of Saturn and its rings taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have awed scientists across the world due to their out-of-this-world features, according to Nasa.

Saturn seems black in the photograph because it absorbed sunlight owing to methane gas, but its dazzling rings offer a magnificent perspective, which Nasa describes as the planet's "unusual appearance."

Saturn's moons Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys are seen on the left, while the Cassini divide, Encke gap, and rings A, B, C, and F are depicted on the right. The Cassini divide is the greatest of Saturn's ring system's gaps.

The near-infrared images of the ringed planet are a first for Nasa's very sensitive telescope, which is 1.5 million kilometres (almost 932,000 miles) from Earth and examines the cosmos with light wavelengths longer than those of other space observatories.

According to the US space agency, the image was captured using Webb's Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, as part of a Webb programme that includes multiple extraordinarily deep exposures of Saturn.

The present picture would allow scientists to analyse the planet in more detail, as well as its faint moons.

"Unexpectedly, the large, diffuse structures in the northern hemisphere do not follow the planet's latitude lines, so this image lacks the familiar striped appearance that is typically seen from Saturn's deeper atmospheric layers," Nasa explained.

Differences in the appearance of Saturn's northern and southern poles are natural, according to Nasa, who added that the northern area is in summer while the southern hemisphere is in winter.

The darker-than-usual look of the northern hemisphere, however, might be due to "an unknown seasonal process affecting polar aerosols in particular," according to Nasa.

Despite the fact that methane absorbs practically all of the sunlight landing on the atmosphere at such a great distance from the sun, the planet's ice rings seem dazzling in the photograph, according to Nasa.

The Webb telescope discovered a large plume of water vapour erupting from the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus earlier this year, which is classified as an ocean planet owing to its composition and unusually ice outer shell.

According to Nasa scientists, the plume, which extends roughly 6,000 miles from the moon's south pole and towards Saturn's rings, was particularly intriguing because of the function it may play in feeding the larger Saturnian water system.

Scientists discovered a critical ingredient — required for life and biological processes on Earth — in the deep ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus last month, raising expectations of finding possible life on the gaseous giant's natural satellite.

They discovered a high quantity of phosphorous — an essential element for all living things on Earth — in ice crystals ejected from the moon.

Previously, the researchers validated the chemical components and minerals related with life harbouring.