New images show that the planet Neptune is the "twin brother" of Uranus Sciences

Door Robbert van der Linde

05 jan 2024 om 12:18

New images of Uranus and Neptune show that the planets are much more similar than previously thought. While Neptune was initially thought to be dark blue, the planet has been shown to have almost the same light blue color as Uranus.

The images were taken by a research team from the University of Oxford. It was published in the monthly scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyIssued by the prestigious British university.

In previous images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, Neptune appeared in dark blue. Astronomers already suspected that those images weren’t created quite right. Voyager 2 was launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets of our solar system.

Oxford researchers have been able to show the ‘true’ color of Neptune based on new images. These images were taken by the new Voyager missions, the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Telescope.

“Uranus still looks as dull and pale as ever, but Neptune appears to be pale as well,” says research leader Patrick Irwin. “This indicates that the known image of a deep blue Neptune is incorrect.”

Uranus and Neptune are blue due to the presence of methane in the atmosphere

The two planets are blue because their atmospheres absorb green and red light, but reflect blue light. This is due to the large amount of methane in the atmosphere. Neptune is slightly bluer because its atmosphere lets in more light.

Uranus and Neptune are the two planets farthest from the sun. On average, Uranus is 2.9 billion kilometers away from the sun, and Neptune is 4.5 billion kilometers away from the sun. They are called ice giants because they are mainly composed of ice. The planets are also about the same size.