Scientists: Neptune’s clouds appear to ebb and grow in conjunction with sunspot cycle
Scientists have now discovered what appears to be a link between the coming and going of clouds on Neptune to the Sun’s 11-year-long sunspot cycle, despite Neptune receiving only 1/900th the sunlight of the Earth.
To monitor the evolution of Neptune’s appearance, Chavez and her team analyzed images taken from 1994 to 2022 using Keck Observatory’s second generation Near-Infrared Camera (NIRC2) paired with its adaptive optics system (since 2002), as well as observations from Lick Observatory (2018-2019) and the Hubble Space Telescope (since 1994). In recent years the Keck Observatory observations have been complemented by images taken as part of Keck Observatory’s Twilight Observing Program and by Hubble Space Telescope images taken as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.
The data revealed an intriguing pattern between changes in Neptune’s cloud cover and the solar cycle – the period when the Sun’s magnetic field flips every 11 years, causing levels of solar radiation to fluctuate. When the Sun emits more intense ultraviolet (UV) light, specifically the strong hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission, more clouds appear on Neptune about two years later. The team further found a positive correlation between the number of clouds and the ice giant’s brightness from the sunlight reflecting off it.
“These remarkable data give us the strongest evidence yet that Neptune’s cloud cover correlates with the Sun’s cycle,” said de Pater. “Our findings support the theory that the Sun’s UV rays, when strong enough, may be triggering a photochemical reaction that produces Neptune’s clouds.”
The graph to the right shows the correlation between the clouds and the sunspot cycle. The paper is available here.
This conclusion remains uncertain because of the overall sparseness of the data. Yet, it is intriguing, and also underlines the importance of the Sun on the Earth’s climate. If the solar cycle can impact Neptune’s climate so significantly from 2.8 billion miles away, it certainly must have a major impact on the Earth’s climate at only 100 million miles distance.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Scientists have now discovered what appears to be a link between the coming and going of clouds on Neptune to the Sun’s 11-year-long sunspot cycle, despite Neptune receiving only 1/900th the sunlight of the Earth.
To monitor the evolution of Neptune’s appearance, Chavez and her team analyzed images taken from 1994 to 2022 using Keck Observatory’s second generation Near-Infrared Camera (NIRC2) paired with its adaptive optics system (since 2002), as well as observations from Lick Observatory (2018-2019) and the Hubble Space Telescope (since 1994). In recent years the Keck Observatory observations have been complemented by images taken as part of Keck Observatory’s Twilight Observing Program and by Hubble Space Telescope images taken as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.
The data revealed an intriguing pattern between changes in Neptune’s cloud cover and the solar cycle – the period when the Sun’s magnetic field flips every 11 years, causing levels of solar radiation to fluctuate. When the Sun emits more intense ultraviolet (UV) light, specifically the strong hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission, more clouds appear on Neptune about two years later. The team further found a positive correlation between the number of clouds and the ice giant’s brightness from the sunlight reflecting off it.
“These remarkable data give us the strongest evidence yet that Neptune’s cloud cover correlates with the Sun’s cycle,” said de Pater. “Our findings support the theory that the Sun’s UV rays, when strong enough, may be triggering a photochemical reaction that produces Neptune’s clouds.”
The graph to the right shows the correlation between the clouds and the sunspot cycle. The paper is available here.
This conclusion remains uncertain because of the overall sparseness of the data. Yet, it is intriguing, and also underlines the importance of the Sun on the Earth’s climate. If the solar cycle can impact Neptune’s climate so significantly from 2.8 billion miles away, it certainly must have a major impact on the Earth’s climate at only 100 million miles distance.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Cool!
Cause-and-effect Science, what causes a reaction there with an extremely small catalyst… Will help us understand our own atmosphere being closer to the sun in ways that we’ve never noticed before. (too big to see)
For example, pine trees.
They are emitting hydrocarbons to protect themselves from the ozone created by strong sunlight. (The blue Hills, the smoky mountains etc.)(Don’t tell the environmentalists, they will want to cut them all down)
I’m old enough to remember “regular” and unleaded fuel. Regular fuel had sulfur in it that would react with moisture in the air to make photochemical Sulfur dioxide smog or sulfuric acid of acid rain. (not to be confused with hydrogen sulfide emitted by the ocean plankton which transforms humidity into the clouds… rain may not exist without the sulfur compound)
Calcium carbonate in the soil neutralizes the acid as it feeds the plants fresh minerals, and fresh carbon (from which 10% of the crust of the earth is made of). The carbon cycle of life, and the water cycle complement each other. (and to think some lucky scammer just got $1.2 billion from Joe Biden to vacuum carbon out the air… Solyndra made Obama rich, I wonder how big the kickbacks oligarch Joe Biden is getting? Influence is the family business)
I asked the guys at the refinery what they do with all that sulfur they remove from gasoline… (we’re in the same union)
Along with other toxic additives, which are no longer legal to incinerate, nor can they dispose of it… They put it in the jet fuel to disperse it over a large area to reduce ppm and let the sun break it down. (That’s when jet planes went from having con trails of water vapor, to chem trails that absorb moisture and last all day)
At first they tried to make fertilizer out of it, but were unable to cheaply remove the toxins. They put it on a farm in Idaho and the plants started to die… so they told the farmer it needed more fertilizer which destroyed his farm.
They also put it in red fuel for off-road use only, but that has been discontinued.
I would also point out on Uranus, more radiation equals more clouds. On earth, more radiation causes a cascade of events that leads to “less” clouds during an active sun, as opposed to more clouds during the low of the solar cycle. (Opposite reaction)
Historically speaking of course, this year is an exception… has been unusually cool and rainy so far. Even though the politicians and the news media has been screaming “hottest year on record”… We still have snow in our mountains which is unusual.
“If the solar cycle can impact Neptune’s climate so significantly from 2.8 billion miles away, it certainly must have a major impact on the Earth’s climate at only 100 million miles distance.”
One would think. William Stanley Jevons certainly believed this to be the case, although his conjecture about sunspots and economic cycles is far from “settled science.”
https://daily.jstor.org/do-sunspots-explain-global-recession-war-or-famine/
Ah …you all are a bunch of Sunests !
Sunspotests as well.
Use more sun block, SPF 2500.
Blame Global Warming. /sarc