Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Two Hours Before Neptune
Explanation:
Two hours before closest approach to Neptune [ http://www.nineplan…] in 1989, the Voyager 2 [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] robot spacecraft snapped this picture [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…]. Clearly visible for the first time were long light-colored cirrus [ http://www.bham.ac.…]-type clouds floating high in Neptune's atmosphere [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…]. Shadows of these clouds can even be seen on lower cloud decks. Most of Neptune's atmosphere [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is made of hydrogen [ http://chemlab.pc.m…] and helium [ http://chemlab.pc.m…], which is invisible. Neptune's blue color therefore comes from smaller amounts of atmospheric methane [ http://www.epa.gov/…], which preferentially absorbs red light. Neptune [ http://pds.jpl.nasa…] has the fastest winds in the Solar System [ http://www.nineplan…], with gusts reaching 2000 kilometers per hour. Speculation [ http://www.berkeley…] holds that diamonds [ http://www.sdnhm.or…] may be created in the dense hot conditions that exist under the clouds-tops of Uranus [ http://spacelink.ms…] and Neptune.
Credit and Copyright:
Voyager [ http://voyager.jpl.…] 2, NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]
keyword:
clouds
keyword:
Neptune
keyword:
Voyager
facet_when:
1989
facet_where:
Uranus
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
facet_what:
Voyager
facet_what:
Voyager 2
facet_what:
Neptune
facet_what:
Uranus
facet_when_year:
1989
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap020922

Two Hours Before Neptune
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