A huge dark hurricane on Neptune, which was first seen two years ago, has suddenly changed directions, leaving experts without answers.
The hurricane was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018, where it was found in the northern hemisphere of the planet. In 2019, it was seen moving toward the southern hemisphere of the planet, but in August 2020, it began to return to the north again, like other dark spots seen in the past on large icebergs. Another small, dark spot was also found, believed to be part of a larger storm that broke in a separate storm.
“We are excited about these observations because this tiny black portion is a potential part of the disruption process,” said Michael H. Wong, of the University of California, Berkeley, in a statement. “This is a process that has never been observed. We’ve seen some other dark spots go away and they’re gone, but we’ve never seen anything disruptive despite being predicted in a computer simulation.”
This Hubble Space Telescope snapshot of the dynamic blue-green planet Neptune shows the emergence of a monster dark storm (top center) and a small dark spot nearby (top right). (NASA, ESA, STSCI, MH Wong / University of California, Berkeley and LA Smovowski and PM Fry / University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Experts believe that water contains Neptune and Uranus ‘primary’
NASA first flew Neptune with the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989 and took pictures of two dark places. It wasn’t until 1994 that he was spotted regularly by Hubble. Since then, the Space Telescope has looked at the “Great Dark Spot” as well as other dark places on the planet.
The dark hurricane is believed to be around 4,600 miles and is the fourth observation on Neptune since 1993. Unlike hurricanes on Earth, which are low-pressure and spin counterclockwise, these hurricanes rotate clockwise and are high-pressure systems. But when they move towards the equator, they are affected by the Coriolis effect, which weakens them, eventually dispersing them after reaching the so-called “kill zone”. This was not a special storm.
(NASA, ESA, STSCI, MH Wong / University of California, Berkeley and LA Smovowski and PM Fry / University of Wisconsin-Madison)
“It was really exciting to watch this one act, as if he was supposed to be acting and then all of a sudden he just stops and swings back,” Wong said. “It was amazing.”
Wang believes the small storm, one that is about 3,000 miles across, was the result of a large hurricane being disrupted, but it is not the case, which adds to the conspiracy behind what is happening.
NASA wants to explore Neptune’s Moon Triton, in which the ocean should find life supportive life.
The researcher explained, “I don’t think another vortex has formed because the smaller is farther towards the equator.” “So it’s within this volatile realm. But we can’t prove that the two are related. It’s a complete mystery.”
Even with Voyager 2 snapping photos of both planets in 1986 and 1989, Neptune, like Uranus, is still relatively obscure.
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In August Gust, researchers developed computer models that suggest that both planets are “primarily” made up of strange forms of water.
In March 2019, NASA JPL scientists proposed a mission to explore Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, which some have theorized could hide the ocean beneath the surface.
