The space is charged with strange things – drilling holes, pulsars, giant alcohol clouds and more sophisticated planets than you could count. Even our own solar system has some strange balls – like Neptune.
Neptune’s surface gravity is similar to Earth
Jupiter is a heavyweight champion on planets, but Neptune is not and not. According to NASA, Neptune is about 17 times more massive than Earth, so you would expect gravity to lubricate. However, on the surface of Neptune, gravity is only about 1.1 times larger than the gravity we experience on Earth. In other words, if something weighed 100 pounds on the ground, you will find that it weighs 110 pounds on Neptune.
Of course, Neptune is made of gas and there is no distinct surface like the earth and other rocky inner planets, so how can you talk about “surface” at all? To make the comparison, scientists have calculated the point at which the atmospheric pressure on Neptune is equal to the standard atmospheric pressure of the earth, about 14 kilograms per square inch.
Neptune’s magnetic field is inclined
On the ground, the magnetic field and the axis of rotation are almost arranged, although the magnetic pole is wandering several hundred miles. Therefore, you can use a compass (which is guided by the magnetic field) to find the geographical north pole.
In Neptune, however, the situation is very different. Neptune’s magnetic field is an angle of about 47 degrees from the rotating axis of the planet.
This creates some interesting effects, most visible how it affects Aurora. Aurors occur when the energetic charged sun particles interact with gas into the atmosphere. As the magnetic field of Neptune sits at an angle of 47 degrees, Neptune does not receive Auroras at its north and south poles, actually experiences them closer to the middle of the planet.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, Heidi Hammel (Aura), Henrik Melin (Northumberia University), Leigh Fletcher, Stephanie Mylam (NASA-GSFC)
The study, published in nature, also found that the upper atmosphere of Neptune had cooled from about 890 F to 350 F after a visit to Voyager 2 30 years ago.
It is formed closer to the sun
Neptune is the most distant planet in the solar system, touring about 2.7 billion miles from the sun. The great distance means that Neptune takes 165 earthly years to walk the sun only once.
However, not everyone thinks he has started his life so far. The beautiful model, named after Nice, France, suggests that Neptune has actually formed much closer to the sun than today – probably somewhere right along Saturn, though it could be somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn.
It is difficult to prove, but the movement of distant objects in the solar system responds well to the explanation and this model also explains why the internal planets (mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) seem to have been destroyed by asteroids and comets about 4 billion years ago.
Neptune has rings
There is no doubt that Saturn has the most emblematic rings in the solar system, but this is not the only planet that has them. In fact, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings. They are just not as impressive as Saturn.
Because the planetary rings are going, Neptune is particularly gloomy – we couldn’t even confirm that they existed, while Voyager 2 did not carefully examine the planet in 1989. Since then, Neptune’s rings have been depicted from JWST near infrared, giving an important idea of their composition and structure.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI
Neptune rings are not as dense as Saturn and they tend to be made up of dust.
It is probably not dark blue
When Voyager 2 traveled along Neptune in 1989, humanity was treated with spectacular views of the dark blue planet – except that it was probably not dark blue, according to a study published in the monthly news of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2024.
Scientific photos are not like the photos you take with your phone or camera. They usually require first extensive processing, especially if the image is made with tools that record in infrared or ultraviolet, for example.
When Voyager 2 passed past Neptune, the team that processes the images made it in a way that allows every better view of the important details in the atmosphere of Neptune and therefore, made it a darker blue than it really is. This is a bit like drilling the contrast of a photo to make a weak text more four.
So what does Neptune look like? Well, a little worse, but far from the deep sapphire we all fell in love.
Patrick Irwin/University of Oxford/NASA
It’s almost a little disappointing.
Unfortunately for us, Neptune is too far to see some details with a pair of binoculars or a telescope in the backyard. At best, you will be treated with a very gloomy view of a tiny blue dot. However, there are many other great things to look at if you only have a pair of binoculars.