After analyzing thirty years of data, scientists have come to the surprising conclusion about Neptune that its clouds have almost completely disappeared – announced a Space.com.
After viewing footage of the planet from 1994 to 2022, a strange pattern was visible from 2019. In the central part of the planet, it seemed that the clouds began to fade, and finally disappeared completely, Imke de Pater, professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the leader of the research group, told the news portal.
According to them, the disappearance of Neptune’s clouds is closely related to the way the Sun behaves during its eleven-year cycle of activity. The solar cycle essentially means how the Sun’s magnetic field changes – in just 11 years.
The Sun is a giant, spherical ocean of charged particles, collectively known as plasma, which means that its structure flows around it and takes shape over time. In such motion, the sun’s magnetic fields, which are associated with all the charged particles, get mixed up, they explained. In this case, these are
they put more and more “tension” on the Sun until the yellow-glowing star can’t take it anymore.
Then, every eleven years, the Sun’s magnetic fields flip, meaning the North Pole becomes the South Pole, and vice versa. From then on, this story keeps repeating itself.
During those eleven years, however, other types of things happen due to changes in the magnetic field:
there may be an increase in solar flares that emit incredibly powerful radiation into space.
These can sometimes be so strong that they even disturb satellites orbiting the Earth, as well as causing temporary mini-breaks in communication lines. But there’s no need to worry about Neptune’s clouds, because as soon as the sun’s UV radiation increases a little, they will revive.
But what is most important from the point of view of the team’s analysis of Neptune is that the Sun emits a lot of ultraviolet radiation while its magnetic fields are being transformed, and this radiation “floods” the rest of the Solar System, including the Earth, the astronomers pointed out.
2023-08-19 07:47:45
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