EARTH & SPACE SCIENCES SECTION
PAGE 13
ISSUE 1
NEPTUNE GREAT DARK SPOTS BY TALAL AHMED
Neptune's weather is among the strangest in the solar
So it's in this tumultuous area. However, they are unable to
system. The sun's eighth planet has the fastest winds of
establish a link between the two. It's still a complete mystery to
any planet, cutting through the atmosphere at speeds of up
me. "The dark vortex also came to a halt in January and began
to 1,100 miles per hour, or 1.5 times the speed of sound.
moving northward again." "Perhaps shedding that fragment was
Scientists are still baffled as to why its atmosphere is so
enough to halt its progress towards the equator." The
turbulent. Their most recent sighting of Neptune added to
researchers are still analyzing more data to see if dark spot jr.
their confusion.
lingers through the rest of 2020.
In 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a storm
The massive vortex, which is larger than the Atlantic Ocean,
with a diameter of 4,600 miles. According to the most
was being pushed south by atmospheric forces near the equator
recent Hubble observations, it appears to have drifted
toward certain doom when it abruptly reversed course and
toward the equator but then swooped back up north. It
began drifting northward.
also has a smaller companion storm, dubbed Dark Spot
This visible-light image was captured by Hubble's Wide Field
Jr., which scientists believe is a piece of the main storm
Camera 3 on Jan. 7, 2020, around the same time a slightly
that broke off. These inky vortexes stand out against the
smaller dark spot mysteriously appeared nearby. After a few
planet's dizzying cerulean blue, but while they're beautiful
months, that location vanished. The smaller feature could have
to look at, their lifespans are brief, making them even
been a shard of the larger storm that shattered as it approached
more difficult to study.
the equator.
Hubble observations also revealed that the dark vortex's
In September 2018, Hubble discovered the massive storm in
perplexing path reversal happened at the same time as the
Neptune's northern hemisphere. The feature spans about 4,600
appearance of a new spot, dubbed "dark spot jr." The new
miles. The smaller spot's estimated width is 3,900 miles. The
spot, which was about 3,900 miles across, was slightly
large storm is Hubble's fourth transient dark spot discovered
smaller than its older sibling. It was near the side of the
since 1993. Two dark features in Neptune's southern
main dark spot facing the equator, which is where some
hemisphere were first imaged by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft
simulations predict a disruption. The appearance of the
in 1989 as Voyager flew by the distant planet. By the time
smaller spot, on the other hand, came at an unusual time.
Hubble looked at Neptune in 1994, the storms had vanished. In
“The astronomers
1994 and 1996, Hubble discovered two new dark spots in the
thought the bigger one was being
disrupted when they first saw the small spot," but "Because the small one is closer to the equator, I didn't think another vortex was forming."
planet's northern hemisphere.
