Anyone who thinks Neptune has a deep blue color has been completely fooled in recent years. Researchers from the British University of Oxford discovered that the planet is very similar to its neighbor Uranus, which is characterized by a blue-green color. They have released photos of the discovery.

The US space probe Voyager 2 has so far been the only probe to have flown close to Uranus and Neptune, the two outer planets of our solar system. Images taken by Voyager 2 in the 1980s were recorded and transmitted to Earth in separate colors. Then all the images were combined.

The researchers say that the images of Uranus that we all know were close to the real colors, but the images of Neptune were artificially “too blue.” In addition, the images have been modified so that clouds and wind are clearly visible. This was known among astronomers and was also explained in the comments on the images. However, researchers say that over time, this nuance has been lost.

Now it turns out that Neptune and Uranus are very similar in color. Neptune is slightly bluer, according to researchers, due to the planet’s thin layer of vapor.

In the study, the researchers used data from the Voyager 2 probe, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile.

Uranus and Neptune are ice giants and are the farthest planets from the sun. Uranus is about 2.9 billion km away and Neptune is about 4.5 billion km away. They are almost the same size.

The Voyager 2 probe was launched on August 20, 1977 and is still flying through space, now outside the solar system. Investigation according to NASA More than 20 billion kilometers from Earth. It takes about 19 hours for sunlight to reach Voyager 2. The US space agency is still in contact with it.