A new mystery on Neptune has astronomers baffled – By Joshua Hawkins (BGR) / April 16, 2022
Neptune is located almost 2.8 billion miles from the Sun. As such, the planet is known for its exceptionally long orbit time. In fact, its journey around the Sun takes roughly 165 Earth years. Because the orbit takes so long, seasons on Neptune last over 40 Earth years. Right now Neptune’s southern hemisphere is in the middle of a four-decade-long summer. Despite that, an unprecedented cooling in Neptune’s temperatures has scientists scratching their heads.
Changes in Neptune’s temperatures have scientists baffled
Neptune is full of mysteries. Previously, scientists discovered an intriguing dark spot on Neptune. We’ve also witnessed storms doing unexpected things on the planet. Now, though, fluctuations in Neptune’s temperatures have raised even more questions about the planet.
Astronomers published a new study on the changes. In the study, the scientists compiled over 17 years’ worth of Neptune’s temperature readings. Instead of warming up, though, the astronomers noticed that the temperature dropped a global average of 8 degrees Celsius between 2003 and 2018.
