Neptune

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MADISON, Wis. -- You won't find flowers blooming and birds building nests, but spring appears to be in full swing on the planet Neptune. It probably began there about 39 years ago and may continue until about 2005, when summer finally arrives.

The discovery of spring on Neptune occurred earlier this year when a team of U.S. astronomers examined images of the solar system's eighth planet taken by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The pictures revealed that the bands of clouds that encircle Neptune's southern hemisphere have been growing bigger and brighter in recent decades, says Larry Sromovsky, an astronomer at the University of Wisconsin.

The change in cloud cover in the south of Neptune is a likely sign of spring, says Sromovsky. Like Earth, Neptune is tilted on its axis of rotation, so the northern and southern hemispheres receive varying amounts of the sun's heat throughout the year. Such variations can bring about seasonal changes. Right now, Neptune's southern hemisphere is receiving more solar radiation than its northern hemisphere.

Solar heating of a planet's atmosphere can cause convection currents, or the rising and falling of air. As warm air rises, it cools and condenses into clouds. On Earth, the gas that condenses into clouds is water vapor. On Neptune, the gas that condenses is methane (C[H.sub.4]), which forms methane ice.

The data supporting the existence of springtime on Neptune surprised some scientists because the planet is located roughly 4.5 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles) from the sun and receives 900 times less solar energy than Earth does. "No need for a sunblock" said Sromovsky.

Neptune is a frigid ball of gas--mostly hydrogen, helium, and methane. Even in spring, temperatures on Neptune hover at close to the boiling point of nitrogen, or -196 degrees Celsius (-320 degrees Fahrenheit).

Earth revolves around the sun once a year. Neptune makes the same journey in 165 Earth years. So the duration of each season on Neptune should be much longer there than it is on Earth. Each season on Neptune should last about 41 years.

The news about Neptune follows a two-year-old report that Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, also appears to undergo seasonal changes.

"We cannot be certain that the brightness increase since 1980 [on Neptune] is mainly a seasonal effect" said Sromovsky, "but, so far, it's the only plausible explanation ==== your final paper. You may want to label sections of your notes to help you be more organized as you write. As you take notes from a source, you should list the source citation in the Works Cited section above. ==== If you think meteorologists have it tough here on puny Earth, just imagine what it would be like trying to predict the weather on giant Neptune -- the eighth planet from the Sun and several billion kilometers distant.

Consider this: On Earth, weather is driven by energy from the Sun as it heats the atmosphere and oceans. On Neptune, the Sun is 900 times dimmer, yet, somehow, it seems to generate monster storms and equatorial winds of about 1,400 kilometers per hour! In fact, such storms were recently imaged on the "other" blue planet by the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. A time-lapse movie of Neptune, created by blending a series of images, shows the ebb and flow of various storms in the planet's atmosphere. And the scientists say it's some of the wildest, weirdest weather in the Solar System. Yet it seems to run on almost no energy!

So, the scientists are baffled. But is that surprising? As you know, "weather" and "enigma" are really the same word, only spelled differently -- no matter what planet you're on!

Neptune, the eighth planet away from the Sun, was discovered in 1846 by German astronomer Johann Galle, who based his finding on the mathematical predictions of French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier and English astronomer John Couch Adams. Because Neptune is so far from the Sun--about 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers)--it is difficult to observe. Very little was known about it until fairly recently. In August 1989, the U.S. space probe Voyager 2 flew by Neptune, finally providing some answers about this mysterious, beautiful globe. Neptune is a large planet, with a mass 17 times that of Earth. The diameter at its equator is roughly 30,700 miles (49,400 kilometers). By comparison, Earth's diameter is about 7,918 miles (12,742 kilometers). Neptune spins slightly faster than Earth--its day is equal to just over 19 Earth hours. It completes one revolution around the Sun in about 165 Earth years. Since it is the color of water, Neptune was named for the Roman god of the sea. Its blue-green color, however, is due to methane gas. The thick outer atmospheric layer of hydrogen, helium, and methane is extremely cold: -350°F (-212°C). Below the atmosphere lies an ocean of ionized (electrically charged) water, ammonia, and methane ice. Underneath the ocean, which reaches thousands of miles in depth, is a rocky iron core. Neptune is subject to the fiercest winds in the solar system. It has a layer of blue surface clouds that whip around with the wind and an upper layer of wispy white clouds of methane crystals that rotate with the planet. At the time of Voyager 2 's encounter, three storm systems were evident on its surface. The most prominent was a dark blue area called the Great Dark Spot, which was about the size of Earth. Another storm, about the size of our Moon, was called the Small Dark Spot. A third fast-moving cloud system, nicknamed Scooter, seemed to chase the other storms around the planet. Its true nature remains a mystery. In 1994, however, observations from the Hubble Space Telescope showed that the Great Dark Spot had disappeared. Astronomers theorize the spot either simply dissipated or is being masked by other aspects of the atmosphere. A few months later, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a new dark spot in Neptune's northern hemisphere. This discovery has led astronomers to conclude that the planet's atmosphere changes rapidly, which might be due to slight changes in the temperature differences between the tops and bottoms of the clouds.

Neptune's magnetic field
A magnetic field has been measured on Neptune, tilted from its axis at a 48-degree angle and missing the center of the planet by thousands of miles. This field is created by water beneath the surface that measures 4,000°F (2,204°C), water so hot and under so much pressure that it generates an electrical field. Voyager 2 found that Neptune is encircled by at least four very faint rings, much less pronounced than the rings of Saturn, Jupiter, or Uranus. Although astronomers are not quite sure, they believe these rings are composed of particles, some of which measure over a mile across and are considered moonlets. These particles clump together in places, creating relatively bright arcs. This originally led astronomers to believe that only arcs--and not complete rings--were all that surrounded the planet.

The moons of Neptune
Neptune has 13 moons, six of which were discovered by Voyager 2. Four new moons discovered in 2002 and one more in 2003 are as yet unnamed. The largest of Neptune's moons, Triton, was named for the son of the mythical Neptune. Triton was discovered a month after Neptune itself. It is 1,681 miles (3,705 kilometers) in diameter and has a surface temperature of -400°F (-240°C), making it the coldest place in the solar system. It has a number of unusual qualities. First, this peach-colored moon orbits Neptune in the opposite direction of all the other planets' satellites, and it rotates on its axis in the opposite direction that Neptune rotates. In addition, Voyager found that Triton has an atmosphere with layers of haze, clouds, and wind streaks. All of this information has led astronomers to conclude that Triton was captured by Neptune long ago from an independent orbit around the Sun. The second Neptunian moon, a faint, small body called Nereid, was discovered in 1949 by Dutch astronomer Gerald Kuiper. The other 11 moons range from about 20 miles (30 kilometers) to 250 miles (400 kilometers) in diameter.

Neptune has 13 moons. Of thoes moons, 6 were discoverd by the voyager 2. Neptune is the 8th planet from the sun. four moons that were discovered in 2002 and another one in 2003 were not named yet. the surface temp. on neptune is -400. it is the coldest place in the solar system.