SPACE — New research reveals the surprising fact that the true colors of Neptune and Uranus are very similar. This finding challenges the previous belief that the planets Uranus and Neptune have significantly different colors.
NASA’s Voyager 2 mission, which did flyby to Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. Flyby it provides the first detailed images of these two ice giants in our solar system. Voyager 2 is unique in being the only spacecraft to approach these two planets.
In the image taken by Vayager 2, Uranus appears in a pale light blue color. Meanwhile, Neptunus displays striking dark blue shades.
This spacecraft captured separate color images of each planet. Now, the researchers combined these images into a composite.
The images of Neptune were enhanced to show white clouds and winds in the planet’s atmosphere. This research was carried out by scientists at the University of Oxford, led by Professor Patrick Irwin.
“Uranus still looks plain and a bit boring, but Neptune also looks a bit faded when you do a true color reconstruction,” he said, as reported by Financial Express.
The color of these ice giants has long been associated with the presence of methane in the atmosphere. Methane can absorb green and red light.
Previous research indicated that Neptune looks slightly bluer than Uranus because the aerosol layer in one layer of its atmosphere is more transparent.
However, recent research challenges this assumption. Researchers reviewed images created from data collected during Voyager 2’s flyby in the 1980s.
It turns out that Neptune’s dark blue appearance in the image is caused by increasing the contrast to highlight its fainter features.
Professor Irwin emphasized that by applying the model they created to the original data, the team had succeeded in reconstituting the most accurate data about the colors of Neptune and Uranus. These findings highlight the importance of repeating and reinterpreting existing data to improve our understanding of celestial bodies in the solar system.
2024-01-06 06:10:00
#Research #Planets #Neptune #Uranus #Turn #Color #Space #Space
