Neptune! Bitter cold winds here? Think 2000 km/hour gusts

Neptune! Bitter cold winds here? Think 2000 km/hour gusts

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Voyager 2, NASA] Two hours before [its] closest approach to Neptune in 1989, the Voyager 2 robot spacecraft snapped this picture. Clearly visible for the first time were long light-colored cirrus-type clouds floating high in Neptune’s atmosphere. Shadows of these clouds can even be seen on lower cloud decks. […]

Looking back to the sun from distant Neptune

Looking back to the sun from distant Neptune

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Data – Voyager 2, NASA Planetary Data System] Cruising through the outer solar system, the Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Neptune on August 25, 1989, the only spacecraft to visit the most distant gas giant. Based on the images recorded during its close encounter and in […]

Followed by a moon shadow: 1989 Neptune images from Voyager 2 reviewed 20 years later

Followed by a moon shadow: 1989 Neptune images from Voyager 2 reviewed 20 years later

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION,  NASA, JPL – Processed Image Copyright: Ted Stryk] Despina is a tiny moon of Neptune … discovered in 1989, in images from the Voyager 2 spacecraft taken during its encounter with the solar system’s most distant gas giant planet. But looking through the Voyager 2 data 20 years later, […]