[Music]
Mysterious Neptune Dark Spot Detected from Earth
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT),
astronomers have observed a mysterious dark spot
in Neptune’s atmosphere,
the first time this has ever been done from Earth.
Astronomers used the VLT
to split reflected sunlight from Neptune
into its component colours.
They found that the dark spot is likely due
to ices and hazes mixing in Neptune’s atmosphere
and darkening air particles.
The observations also offered up a surprise result:
a rare cloud type appeared as a bright spot
right beside the larger dark spot.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have been able to (…) make the first detection of a dark spot from the ground.” Patrick Irwin, University of Oxford, UK.
Produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. Reaching new heights in Astronomy
Music: Stellardrone – I Don’t Belong Here. Footage and photos: ESO / M. Kornmesser, Angelos Tsaousis, Irwin et al. F. Kamphues, Gianluca Lombardi (glphoto.it), NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScl/OPO) and G. Bacon (STScl). Scientific consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova.