It turned out that Neptune’s true color is a pale blue, similar to that of Uranus, unlike its known bright blue appearance. The first images of Neptune and Uranus, the farthest planets from the Sun, were obtained by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in the 1980s. In the published images, the two planets were noticeably different colors. This difference was surprising, considering the similarity in their size, mass and chemical structure. The difference was explained by the haze layer on Uranus, which is thicker and reflects more white light.
In fact, the contrast ratio of the Voyager 2 images of Neptune was increased to highlight its hard-to-see atmospheric features. That’s why the planet looked bluer. Although scientists added information about the edits they made to the images under the images they shared at that time, this information was neglected over time as the images spread and Neptune became known for its bright blue color.
The accurate colors of Neptune and Uranus were recently shared by Patrick Irwin, professor of planetary physics at Oxford University, and his colleagues. Researchers found that both planets have greenish-blue tones and state that Neptune’s blue tone is only slightly darker than that of Uranus. This difference is explained by the thinner haze layer of Neptune. Data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope were used in the study.
Sources
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2410954-neptune-isnt-as-blue-as-we-thought-it-was/
https://phys.org/news/2024-01-images-reveal-neptune-uranus.html?
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