* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Neptune

Blobrana · L

An icy comet might have smashed into Neptune two centuries ago - that's what scientists have gauged from the latest measurements of gases in the atmosphere of the giant blue planet.
At a meeting this week of the American Astronomical Society in Miami, Florida, Paul Hartogh, project scientist for the Herschel mission, the European Space Agency's infrared observatory satellite, described the mission's first results for the Solar System.
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Blobrana · L

Carbon monoxide in planet's atmosphere points to icy impact.

Did a large, icy comet smash into Neptune two centuries ago? That's the picture that is emerging from the latest measurements of gases in the atmosphere of the giant blue planet.
At a meeting this week of the American Astronomical Society in Miami, Florida, Paul Hartogh, project scientist for the Herschel mission, the European Space Agency's infrared observatory satellite, described the mission's first results for the Solar System. These include measurements of abnormally high levels of carbon monoxide in Neptune's stratosphere - a possible trace of a comet impact.
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Blobrana · L

The Wizard's Eye (sometimes called Great Dark Spot 2) is another cyclone on Neptune. It is about one third the diameter of the Great Dark Spot. It received the name "Wizard's Eye" because it looks like an eye.
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Blobrana · L

Title: Seeing Double at Neptune's South Pole
Authors: S. H. Luszcz-Cook, I. de Pater, M. Adamkovics, H. B. Hammel

Keck near-infrared images of Neptune from UT 26 July 2007 show that the cloud feature typically observed within a few degrees of Neptune's south pole had split into a pair of bright spots. A careful determination of disk centre places the cloud centres at -89.07 ±0 .06 and -87.84 ±0.06 degrees planetocentric latitude. If modelled as optically thick, perfectly reflecting layers, we find the pair of features to be constrained to the troposphere, at pressures greater than 0.4 bar. By UT 28 July 2007, images with comparable resolution reveal only a single feature near the south pole. The changing morphology of these circumpolar clouds suggests they may form in a region of strong convection surrounding a Neptunian south polar vortex.

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Blobrana · L

Astronomers have detected an extraterrestrial cyclone at Neptune's south pole, which may improve our understanding of the violent weather conditions that rage across the distant planet.
It could also help us better understand Neptune's internal structure.
The team of astronomers made the discovery while studying clouds on other planets using the giant 10-metre Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
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Neptune may have eaten a planet and stolen its moon

Neptune may have polished off a super-Earth that once roamed the outer solar system and stolen its moon to boot. The brutal deed could explain mysterious heat radiating from the icy planet and the odd orbit of its moon Triton.
Neptune's own existence was a puzzle until recently. The dusty cloud that gave birth to the planets probably thinned out further from the sun. With building material so scarce, it is hard to understand how Uranus and Neptune, the two outermost planets, managed to get so big.
But what if they formed closer in? In 2005, a team of scientists proposed that the giant planets shifted positions in an early upheaval. In this scenario, Uranus and Neptune formed much closer to the sun and migrated outwards, possibly swapping places in the process.
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Blobrana · L

Title: Seeing Double at Neptune's South Pole
Authors: S. H. Luszcz-Cook, I. de Pater, M. Adamkovics, H. B. Hammel

Keck near-infrared images of Neptune from UT 26 July 2007 show that the cloud feature typically observed within a few degrees of Neptune's south pole had split into a pair of bright spots. A careful determination of disk centre places the cloud centres at -89.07 ±0 .06 and -87.84 ±0.06 degrees planetocentric latitude. If modelled as optically thick, perfectly reflecting layers, we find the pair of features to be constrained to the troposphere, at pressures greater than 0.4 bar. By UT 28 July 2007, images with comparable resolution reveal only a single feature near the south pole. The changing morphology of these circumpolar clouds suggests they may form in a region of strong convection surrounding a Neptunian south polar vortex.

Read more (1082kb, PDF)

Blobrana · L

Galileo knew he had discovered a new planet in 1613, 234 years before its official discovery, according to a new theory by a University of Melbourne physicist and alumnus.

"It has been known for several decades that this unknown star was actually the planet Neptune. Computer simulations show the precision of his observations revealing that Neptune would have looked just like a faint star almost exactly where Galileo observed it" - Professor David Jamieson.

But a planet is different to a star because planets orbit the Sun and move through the sky relative to the stars. It is remarkable that on the night of January 28 in 1613 Galileo noted that the "star" we now know is the planet Neptune appeared to have moved relative to an actual nearby star."
There is also a mysterious unlabeled black dot in his earlier observations of January 6, 1613, which is in the right position to be Neptune.

"I believe this dot could reveal he went back in his notes to record where he saw Neptune earlier when it was even closer to Jupiter but had not previously attracted his attention because of its unremarkable star-like appearance"

If the mysterious black dot on January 6 was actually recorded on January 28, Professor David Jamieson proposes this would prove that Galileo believed he may have discovered a new planet.

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Blobrana · L

Neptune Trojans