Neptune Opposition III

Neptune has lost its vibrancy. The planet itself hasn’t changed – only our perception of it – the result of a bit of creative license exercised 37 years ago. Neptune is the Sun’s fourth-largest planet – four times the diameter of Earth. But it’s also the most-distant major planet – 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth is. Our only close look at Neptune came in August 1989, when Voyager 2 flew just 3,000 miles above its cloudtops. It transmitted hundreds of pictures of the planet. They revealed white bands of clouds racing through Neptune’s atmosphere, and a massive storm – the Great Dark Spot. In most of the pictures, Neptune has a deep cerulean palette. But a couple of years ago, a team reprocessed the images. The original project team had enhanced the planet’s color and contrast. That revealed details in the atmosphere that otherwise wouldn’t show up. But it also concealed Neptune’s true appearance: a pale blue-green. So Neptune isn’t as vibrant as it seemed – but it’s still an amazing world far from the Sun. Neptune is closest to Earth today for the entire year. It shines at its brightest, and it’s in the sky all night. You still need help to see it. But its location is easy to spot. As night falls, it’s about half way between the full Moon – the Harvest Moon – and the planet Saturn, which looks like a bright star to the lower left of the Moon. Script by Damond Benningfield