The James Webb Space Telescope identified the lights in the distant planet’s atmosphere, which could not be seen by earlier telescopes or spacecraft.

(if going by patent filings) of the telescope to finally see Neptune's auroras, and it's thanks to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Webb has filled in many gaps left by Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to visit the planet. In 2022, the telescope captured Neptune's ghostly rings and revealed a band of clouds around a known vortex at the planet's south pole for the first time.