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    Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act

    Dragon
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    Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act Empty Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act

    Post by Dragon Fri Aug 18, 2023 2:29 pm

    For the first time in nearly three decades of observations, clouds seen on Neptune have all but vanished.

    Images from 1994 to 2022 of the big blue planet captured from Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island through the lens of W. M. Keck Observatory, along with views from space via NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show clouds are nearly gone with the exception of the south pole.

    The observations, which are published in the journal Icarus, further reveal a connection between Neptune's disappearing clouds and the solar cycle—a surprising find given that Neptune is the farthest major planet from the sun and receives only 1/900th of the sunlight we get on Earth.


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    Dragon
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    Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act Empty Re: Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act

    Post by Dragon Fri Aug 18, 2023 2:32 pm

    Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act Clouds-on-neptune-perf
    Credit: Imke de Pater, Erandi Chavez, Erin Redwing (UC Berkeley)/W. M. Keck

    A dramatic change in Neptune’s appearance was observed in late 2019 and has persisted through June 2023.

    As shown by this compilation of images at 1.63 µm (microns) obtained with the NIRC2 and adaptive optics system on the Keck II Telescope, Neptune had numerous cloud features organized in latitudinal bands from before 2002 through late 2019.

    Afterwards, clouds appeared almost absent except near the south pole.


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    Dragon
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    Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act Empty Re: Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act

    Post by Dragon Fri Aug 18, 2023 2:36 pm

    Neptune clouds perform a surprise disappearing act Clouds-on-neptune-perf-1
    Credit: NASA, ESA, LASP, Erandi Chavez (UC Berkeley), Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley)

    This sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images chronicles the waxing and waning of the amount of cloud cover on Neptune.

    This nearly-30-year-long set of observations shows that the number of clouds grows increasingly following a peak in the solar cycle – where the Sun’s level of activity rhythmically rises and falls over an 11-year period.

    The Sun’s level of ultraviolet radiation is plotted in the vertical axis.

    The 11-year cycle is plotted along the bottom from 1994 to 2022.

    The Hubble observations along the top, clearly show a correlation between cloud abundance and solar peak of activity.

    The chemical changes are caused by photochemistry, which happens high in Neptune’s upper atmosphere and takes time to form clouds.


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