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B1ackwater
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CNN
PARIS, France (AP) -- Scientists say that Neptune, one of the coldest
planets in the solar system, has a surprising warm spot -- relatively
speaking.
Neptune's south pole has been in the summer sunlight for about 40
years.
An international team of astronomers has found that Neptune's south
pole is warmer than other parts of the planet.
Temperatures at its south pole are about 18 degrees warmer than
elsewhere on the planet -- not much for a planet with an average
temperature colder than 320 degrees below zero.
The apparent reason is that the south pole has been in the summer
sunlight for about 40 years.
Neptune is nearly 2.8 billion miles away from the sun. A Neptunian
year -- the time it takes to orbit the sun -- is equivalent to about
165 Earth years.
One result of that has been to expose Neptune's southern pole to the
sun for nearly 40 years, warming it up. Because it is so far away,
Neptune gets only 1/900th of the sunlight that Earth receives, but it
still appears to have had a significant impact.
An array of scientific organizations announced the findings Tuesday,
including the government-funded CNRS research body in France and ESO,
the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern
Hemisphere, whose telescope in Chile was used.
"Neptune's south pole is currently tilted toward the sun, just like
the Earth's south pole is tilted toward the sun during summer in the
southern hemisphere," astronomer Glenn Orton, lead author of the
findings, said in an ESO news release.
"On Neptune, the Antarctic summer lasts 40 years instead of a few
months, and a lot of solar energy input during that time can make big
temperature differences between the regions in continual sunlight and
those with day-night variations," he said.
The heat has, in turn, defrosted methane normally trapped as ice in
the planet's atmosphere, releasing it as gas, the CNRS said. It said
there is eight times more methane over the south pole than in the rest
of the planet's atmosphere.
The abundance of gaseous methane in Neptune's stratosphere had gone
unexplained until now, it added.
- - - - -
Neptunian cow farts ... the only explaination !
Hey, can't our scientists create a fartless cow ?
We can breed or engineer 'em for almost everything
else, so why not fartlessness ?
PARIS, France (AP) -- Scientists say that Neptune, one of the coldest
planets in the solar system, has a surprising warm spot -- relatively
speaking.
Neptune's south pole has been in the summer sunlight for about 40
years.
An international team of astronomers has found that Neptune's south
pole is warmer than other parts of the planet.
Temperatures at its south pole are about 18 degrees warmer than
elsewhere on the planet -- not much for a planet with an average
temperature colder than 320 degrees below zero.
The apparent reason is that the south pole has been in the summer
sunlight for about 40 years.
Neptune is nearly 2.8 billion miles away from the sun. A Neptunian
year -- the time it takes to orbit the sun -- is equivalent to about
165 Earth years.
One result of that has been to expose Neptune's southern pole to the
sun for nearly 40 years, warming it up. Because it is so far away,
Neptune gets only 1/900th of the sunlight that Earth receives, but it
still appears to have had a significant impact.
An array of scientific organizations announced the findings Tuesday,
including the government-funded CNRS research body in France and ESO,
the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern
Hemisphere, whose telescope in Chile was used.
"Neptune's south pole is currently tilted toward the sun, just like
the Earth's south pole is tilted toward the sun during summer in the
southern hemisphere," astronomer Glenn Orton, lead author of the
findings, said in an ESO news release.
"On Neptune, the Antarctic summer lasts 40 years instead of a few
months, and a lot of solar energy input during that time can make big
temperature differences between the regions in continual sunlight and
those with day-night variations," he said.
The heat has, in turn, defrosted methane normally trapped as ice in
the planet's atmosphere, releasing it as gas, the CNRS said. It said
there is eight times more methane over the south pole than in the rest
of the planet's atmosphere.
The abundance of gaseous methane in Neptune's stratosphere had gone
unexplained until now, it added.
- - - - -
Neptunian cow farts ... the only explaination !
Hey, can't our scientists create a fartless cow ?
We can breed or engineer 'em for almost everything
else, so why not fartlessness ?
