Odd cloud on Neptune seen splitting into two

Odd cloud on Neptune seen splitting into two
Details are cloudy about its cause, which is still being studied

By Andrea Thompson
updated 2 hours, 2 minutes ago

A cloudy patch that is typically seen over the south pole of Neptune was spotted in double by astronomers after it briefly split in two, as viewed by ground-based telescopes in 2007.

The cloud feature has been seen near Neptune's south pole since the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited the planet in the late 1980s. But what exactly it was and what processes on the planet generated it weren't known then, as telescopes on Earth can't see Neptune well enough to resolve such small features.

"What we knew about it was that there was a spot," said Mate Ádámkovics, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the team that made the new observations.

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reply to post by Pauligirl


Interesting. I saw something like this on History Channel or the like a few years back. Only that was on Saturn .... Perhaps they should chronicle different clouds on planets and see what all this is about. I for one am interested to know. Though, of course, we mustn't jump to conclusions ....

Certainly interesting, but what could it actually mean for Neptune and more importantly, what do we gain out of it?

I really can't wait until we have the technology / resources to actually fly craft and land on some of the bodies in our solar system. There's so much to be learnt by actually visiting these planets. Considering both Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) and Europa (moon of Jupiter) both have the possibility of liquid water (and therefore life) I think we should be hurrying to get craft out to these planets. Why do we need to go searching the galaxy when life could be right on our doorstep?

Exciting times ahead.