Astronomers observing Neptune for the past 17 years have tracked a surprising drop in the ice giant's global temperatures, which was then followed by a dramatic warming trend at the planet's south pole
Astronomers observing Neptune for the past 17 years with multiple ground-based telescopes tracked a surprising drop in the ice giant's global temperatures, which was then followed by a dramatic warming trend at the planet's south pole.Neptune, which orbits the sun at a distance of 2.8 billion miles , experiences seasons like Earth does -- they just last much longer. One year on Neptune lasts for about 165 Earth years, so a single season can last around 40 years.
"Our data cover less than half of a Neptune season, so no one was expecting to see large and rapid changes," said study coauthor Glenn Orton, senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement.
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