Neptune - Changes in Great Dark Spot
The bright cirrus-like clouds of Neptune change rapidly, often forming and dissipating over periods of several to tens of hours. In this sequence spanning two rotations of Neptune (about 36 hours) Voyager 2 observed cloud evolution in the region around the Great Dark Spot (GDS) at an effective resolution of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) per pixel. The surprisingly rapid changes which occur over the 18 hours separating each panel shows that in this region Neptune's weather is perhaps as dynamic and variable as that of the Earth. However, the scale is immense by our standards the Earth and the GDS are of similar size and in Neptune's frigid atmosphere, where temperatures are as low as 55 degrees Kelvin (360 F), the cirrus clouds are composed of frozen methane rather than Earth's crystals of water ice. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.
|
Image details
ID#:
PIA00047
Date added:
1996-01-29
Target:
Neptune
Mission:
Voyager
Spacecraft:
Voyager 2
Size:
430 x 465 pixels (width x height)
Rating:
Views:
2,389
Full-Res TIFF:
PIA00047.tif (0.11 MB)
Full-Res JPG:
PIA00047.jpg (0.03 MB)
Image credit:
NASA/JPL
|
 |

|
-
Neptune's Blue-green Atmos...
Added February 16, 2000
Neptune's Dark Spot (D2) a...
Added January 29, 1996
Neptune's Southern Hemisph...
Added January 29, 1996
-
Neptune in Primary Colors
Added August 2, 1998
Neptune's "Hot" South Pole
Added September 18, 2007
The Limb of Triton
Added August 20, 1999
-
Neptune Clouds on the Dark...
Added October 29, 1999
Neptune's Stormy Disposition
Added May 21, 1999
Triton - False Color of 'C...
Added September 26, 1996
|
-
Mount St. Helens
Added March 18, 2005
Storm Front
Added March 6, 2012
Contact Instrument Calibra...
Added February 7, 2012
-
Starburst Galaxy NGC 3310
Added December 7, 1999
Turbulent Lava Flow in Mar...
Added January 11, 2010
Olympus Mons Lava Flows
Added May 21, 2002
-
Pan in Action
Added August 4, 2010
Neptune's Dark Spot (D2) a...
Added January 29, 1996
Chaos
Added October 4, 2012
|
|
 |
 |
|