Neptune is colder than we think.. this is how hot it is?

by time news
A new study reveals that the ice giant may be even colder than we originally thought, as researchers from NASA conducted thermal infrared images of Neptune from multiple observatories over the course of nearly 20 years, and their analysis revealed that the average temperatures in the stratosphere in Neptune unexpectedly fell by about 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) between 2003 and 2018.

According to the British newspaper, “Daily Mail”, Neptune is one of the coldest planets in the solar system, as it is 2.8 billion miles from the sun, with average temperatures of -373 degrees Fahrenheit (-207 degrees Celsius),

Dr Michael Roman, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leicester and lead author of the study, said: ‘This change was unexpected, given that we were observing Neptune during the early southern summer, expecting temperatures to be warmer, not cooler.

The researchers studied thermal infrared images from a range of observatories, including the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, the Gemini Southern Telescope in Chile, the Subaru Telescope, the Keck Telescope, and the Gemini North Telescope, all in Hawaii, as well as the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The images revealed that between 2003 and 2018, temperatures in Neptune’s stratosphere, the second layer of the atmosphere as you moved upward, decreased by 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius).

While the Earth takes 365 days to complete an orbit around the sun, Neptune takes more than 165 years, meaning that seasons on the ice giant change much more slowly, lasting more than 40 Earth years each.

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