JWST reveals Neptune's moons are shattered remnants of ancient icy worlds

At the cold frontier of our solar system, the James Webb Space Telescope has turned Neptune's long-puzzling moon system from an astronomical riddle into a coherent story of ancient catastrophe. Clay minerals detected on the surfaces of Neptune's inner moons suggest these are not worlds that grew quietly in place, but shattered remnants of larger icy bodies that collided and broke apart billions of years ago. What once appeared as disorder — tilted orbits, mismatched sizes, scarred surfaces — now reads as the signature of a violent and formative chapter in the solar system's early life. In reve