Atmospheric wind speed up to 600 m/h… Great sunspot/small sunspot storm phenomenon active
It is the farthest from Earth among the planets in the solar system and has not been explored much.
Researchers at UC Berkeley recently uncovered why Neptune’s clouds disappeared
The last remaining blue ocean universe. The United States, Russia, China, and India have opened their eyes to the value of space early on and are pioneering that space. Korea is now also jumping into space development in earnest. We try to tell the story of the unknown universe and its vast and vast world in a fun way so that anyone, from children to adults, can easily understand.
A picture of Neptune taken by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. photo credit = screw
Neptune, the eighth and last planet in the solar system. It is also called ‘the wasteland of the solar system’ because it is one of the least explored planets in the solar system. It is also a planet that is still a subject of study among astronomers because there are still many veils.
Neptune is difficult to explore because it is so far from Earth. The distance between Earth and Neptune varies depending on its orbital position, ranging from about 4.3 billion km at the closest to 4.6 billion km at the farthest. To send a probe to Neptune and communicate with Earth, it takes 4 hours for radio waves to travel, so it takes 8 hours to send and receive communication with the probe once.
Neptune, with a rotation period of 16 hours 6 minutes and 36 seconds and a sun orbital period of 164 years and 8 months, is an ‘icy planet’ and is very cold. The average temperature reaches 218 degrees below zero. Atmospheric composition consists of 80% hydrogen, 19% helium, and the rest methane and ethane. It is 4 times the size of Earth and 17 times the mass.
Neptune’s atmosphere is highly variable. The maximum wind speed is 600m per hour, which is why phenomena such as the great sunspot and the small sunspot, which are localized storms, are active.
Neptune has an axial tilt of 28.32 degrees, similar to Earth’s (23.44 degrees), so scientists speculate that there will be seasonal changes. However, Neptune’s orbital period is 164 years and 8 months, so one season is estimated to be about 40 years.
Neptune, like Saturn and Uranus, has rings. However, Neptune’s rings are faint like those of Uranus, so they can only be observed with a good telescope. Neptune’s rings are mostly composed of dust.
So far, 14 moons of Neptune have been discovered. Neptune has 14 moons. Triton is the largest of Neptune’s moons. The peculiarity of this satellite is that it orbits in a ‘retrograde orbit’.
Normally, satellites orbit in the same direction as their parent planet, but Triton orbits in the opposite direction to Neptune’s rotation. This phenomenon is called ‘retrograde orbit’.
A picture of Neptune and its rings taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in September last year. photo credit = screw
Neptune has always been surrounded by clouds, but since last 2020, clouds have disappeared everywhere except over Antarctica.
Therefore, many scientists have conducted research to solve this question, and the answer has recently been found in the United States.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) observed Neptune from 1994 to 2022 with the Keck Observatory Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and Rick Observatory Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and analyzed data for about 30 years.
As a result, they found that the disappearance of Neptune’s clouds was linked to the 11-year cycle of solar activity.
According to the researchers, Neptune’s brightness depends on the amount of clouds, with larger clouds reflecting more light, making Neptune shine brighter.
Through analysis of observational data, the researchers found that Neptune’s cloud cover during this period showed a pattern of 2.5 cycles.
Due to the increase and decrease in cloud cover, Neptune reached its brightest in 2002, dimmed in 2007, and brightened again in 2015.
Then, from 2019, it started to get dark again as the clouds disappeared from the middle latitudes with the most clouds, and it was also found that the clouds of Neptune, which had disappeared, were reappearing from the middle latitudes this summer.
Neptune’s moon Triton, taken by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. photo credit = screw
The research team said, “The period when clouds increase and decrease coincides with the cycle of solar activity, which goes back and forth between maximum and minimum with an average cycle of 11 years.” It is a time that corresponds to the minimum period,” he explained.
The year 2015 has just passed the maximum of the 24th cycle of solar activity (2008-2019), and 2019 is the minimum. Solar activity, which entered the 25th cycle from 2020, is expected to peak around July 2025.
For reference, astronomers have been numbering solar activity cycles since 1755, when they began recording changes in the number of sunspots.
The research team said, “During the solar maximum, more intense ultraviolet rays are emitted from the sun. Two years after the peak of the solar maximum, we confirmed that more clouds appeared on Neptune.” This strengthening supports the hypothesis that photochemical reactions that create clouds in Neptune’s upper atmosphere may be promoted.”
