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Patrick IrwinThe photos of the two planets, below with real colors
NOS News•Saturday, 02:02•Changed Saturday, 02:44
Anyone who believed that the planet Neptune was a deep blue color has been quite deceived in recent years. Researchers at Britain’s Oxford University have found that the planet is much more similar to its neighboring planet Uranus, which is more green-blue. They released images of the discovery.
The American space probe Voyager 2 was the only probe to fly past Uranus and Neptune, the two outer planets of our solar system. The photos taken by Voyager 2 in the 1980s and transmitted to Earth were recorded in separate colors. Then all the photos were combined.
The photos of Uranus we all know were close to the real colors, but those of Neptune were artificially made “too blue,” researchers say. In addition, the photos were edited so that the clouds and winds can be clearly seen. This was well known among astronomers and was also explained in the captions. Over time, however, this nuance has been lost, the researchers say.
Now it turns out that Neptune and Uranus are very similar in color. According to the researchers, Neptune is slightly bluer due to a thinner layer of vapor on this planet.
Voyager 2
For 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 two ice giants and the furthest planets from the Sun. Uranus about 2.9 billion kilometers and Neptune about 4.5 billion kilometers. They are about the same size.
The Voyager 2 probe was launched on August 20, 1977 and is still flying through space, now outside the solar system. According to NASA, the probe is more than 20 billion kilometers from Earth. The sun’s light takes nearly 19 hours to reach Voyager 2. The American space agency remains in contact with her.
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