The first-ever ground-based image of a dark spot on Neptune has revealed vital clues as to the origin of such anticyclonic vortices.
in Chile and its MUSE instrument, Irwin’s team was able to detect the dark spot and spectroscopically measure it in 3D, revealing what was going on with this entity at different atmospheric depths.
"Since the first discovery of a dark spot, I’ve always wondered what these short-lived and elusive dark features are," Irwin said in theDifferent wavelengths of light are able to probe different depths of Neptune’s atmosphere, dictated by things like atmospheric composition and how that composition reflects light.
Instead, the team reasoned, something in the atmosphere's aerosol haze must be making this spot dark. MUSE’s observations showed the dark spot likely lies at a depth where the pressure is about 5 bar, which is the pressure layer where hydrogen sulfide is able to condense out into ice crystals.
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