In a recent review, astronomers who specifically study the atmosphere Neptune discovered that temperature the planet has fallen in the last 17 years. The same study showed that the same planet’s south pole had warmed significantly.

According to a study published in the Planetary Science Journal and approximately 100 thermal infrared photographs taken between 2003 and 2020, Neptune experienced a significant drop in global temperature. 8 degrees Celsius between 2003 and 2018.

According to astronomer Michael Roman from the University of Leicester in England, such a change in temperature on the eighth planet of the solar system was “unexpected”. Roman went on to say: “Because we observed Neptune early in the summer in the south, we expect temperatures to slowly rise rather than fall.”

The images below were taken by the Very Large telescope in Chile and the Keck and Subaru telescopes in Hawaii. Dark red represents cooler temperatures.

40 year seasons

With winds of 2,000 km/h, the ice giant, 2.78 million miles from the Sun, seasons that last 40 years, being the planet with the longest seasons in the solar system. Thus, just one year on Neptune is equal to 165 Earth years. To get an idea of ​​this timing of the seasons, the second longest planet is Uranus with a 20 year period between seasons.

Knowing this, astronomers reported that summer began south of Neptune in 2005. Glenn Orton, senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (JPL), said: “Our data covers less than half of Neptune’s season, so no one expected to see big and fast changes.”

Research shows that the planet’s average temperature is -200 degrees Celsius. Interestingly, as the planet’s temperature drops, at the south pole of Neptune between 2018 and 2020, the temperature increased by about 11 degrees Celsius during this period.

Scientists have not yet been able to find a concrete explanation for this drop in temperature that Neptune had. For scientists, this change could be due to changes in the chemistry of the planet’s stratosphere, or simply due to random weather patterns.

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Via: Gizmodo Source: The Planetary Science Journal