In 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 probe beamed back astonishing images of this dynamic world, including an Earth-sized storm with 1,000 mph winds. Since then, planetary scientists have used giant telescopes either on or orbiting Earth to observe uncanny Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun.
And in the last couple of decades, they've watched extreme changes in the planet's atmosphere. Between 2003 and 2018, average temperatures in Neptune's stratosphere — a big layer of the atmosphere lying above storms and weather — plummeted by 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, between 2018 and 2020, stratospheric temperatures in the South Pole suddenly shot up by a whopping 20 degrees.
The dramatic changes are unexpected because they're happening amid a profoundly long Neptunian season. (It takes Neptune 165 years to orbit the sun, meaning its seasons last decades.)
What could be driving these uncanny, large-scale changes? "It's elusive," said Orton. But the research team has some ideas. It's possible the sun's 11-year activity cycles may be linked to temperature fluxes in Neptune's stratosphere. Or chemical changes in the planet's hydrogen-rich atmosphere may drive these abrupt alterations.
I still think the moon is "rusting" because its being blasted by xrays or other high energy particles from whatever planet 9 might be.
Couldnt find much about the storms, but found this from a simple search.
https://mashable.com/article/neptune-space-unexpected-changes
I still think the moon is "rusting" because its being blasted by xrays or other high energy particles from whatever planet 9 might be.
Who knows though, not me.