Scientists have explained that despite having so many things in common, planets Neptune and Uranus have very different appearances.
As specified in a report from The Independent via Yahoo! News, the furthest two planets in the Solar System have similar masses, sizes, and atmosphere structures. Yet, Neptune appears distinctly bluer compared to its neighbor.
A new study led by Professor Patrick Irwin at the University of Oxford suggests a layer of haze on both planets is behind the different colors.
Both planets would appear nearly equally blue if there were no haze in their atmospheres, as suggested in the new research.
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Neptune is the fourth largest of the planets in our solar system. The atmosphere consists mostly of hydrogen and helium, but the presence of three percent methane lends the planet its striking blue hue.
Difference in Color
Explaining the difference in hue between Neptune and Uranus, was an unexpected bonus, explained University of California's Dr. Mike Wong.
Employing observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, and the Gemini North telescope, an international team of researchers, developed a model to explain aerosol layers in the atmosphere of the two planets.
Professor Irwin, the study's lead paper, said this is the first model to simultaneously suit the reflected sunlight's observations from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths.
He also said this is the first to explain the difference in evident color between Uranus and Neptune. The model comprises three haze layers in the two planets' atmospheres at different heights.
Neptune, Thicker and Bluer than Uranus
A similar Bloomberg report said that the middle layer of haze particles is thicker on Uranus than Neptune, affecting the visible color of both planets, according to scientists.
Scientists have explained why, despite having much in common, Uranus and Neptune have very different appearances 🔭 https://t.co/sngQlDdumQ
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) May 31, 2022
On the said two planets, methane ice condenses on the particles in the middle layer, creating a shower of methane snow, pulling the haze particles deeper into the atmosphere.
Neptune features a more active turbulent atmosphere compared to Uranus. This suggests that its atmosphere is more efficient at churning up the gas into the haze layer, where it can condense on the haze particles and produce the snow.
This eliminates more of the haze and keeps the haze layer of Neptune thinner. Consequently, Neptune appears bluer in color while excess haze on Uranus is building up in the stagnant, sluggish atmosphere of the planet, giving it a lighter gone.
For Better Insight of Clouds and Hazes in Atmospheres
The research revealed, too, the presence of a second, deeper layer in the second model. Essentially, when darkened, a similar Qudach report said, this could account for dark spots occasionally seen on Neptune ad more sporadically on Uranus, such as the popular Great Dark Spot or GDS-89 on Neptune observed in the late 1980s by Voyager 2.
According to Wong, an astronomer from the University of California, Berkeley, they hoped that developing this model would help better understand clouds and hazes in the ice giant atmospheres.
The study's findings are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. The findings are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
Related information about the two planets is shown on Wonder World's YouTube video below:
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