Neptune from Voyager 2. Color is from images with CH4JS, green and orange filter.
Shadows of three moons are visible.
Second image is with possible interpretation.
Full Version: Neptunian System Imaging
Yes!!! 
I was hoping you'd focus your imaging magic towards Neptune!
I was hoping you'd focus your imaging magic towards Neptune!
It was only matter of time.
Beautiful! I have also worked with these images and interpreted the moon you considered Galatea to be Naiad, but other than that I agree with your interpretation.
Edit: One other question: Which color did you use the CH4JS filter for? It is even redder than the orange filter, but from your listing order it seems like you used it as blue.
Edit: One other question: Which color did you use the CH4JS filter for? It is even redder than the orange filter, but from your listing order it seems like you used it as blue.
CH4JS (with reduced contrast) was used as red color. Another ones: Orange -> green, green -> blue.
So this is false color, but corrected to approximately true color.
So this is false color, but corrected to approximately true color.
That makes good sense. I interpreted too much from the order you listed the filters.
Aaaahh... Neptune! I recall taping any mention of the Voyager 2 flyby on TV as a rather eager seven year-old.
Great picture Daniel.
Great picture Daniel.
...wow!
Just so you know Machi, that new image will make its Outreach debut tonight, here in Kendal, in a talk being given to the 10th Kendal Cubs! (all ten of them!)
I can't help noticing similarity between clouds on Titan and the ones in that Voyager view of Neptune. In particular the biggest Neptune cloud with its north-south branch does resemble somewhat the big cloud recently seen on Titan. In general, and in both cases, the clouds cover only a small fraction of the globe and are predominantly in the form of long east-west streaks. Of course so much else about the two worlds is so very different. I have no idea whether the morphological similarity signifies anything interesting.
I'm not expert about clouds, so I don't know exactly if it's cirrus, but these are real clouds encircling Neptune's pole.
One of my future image will show this region with higher resolution.
One of my future image will show this region with higher resolution.
Neptune with cirrus clouds swirling around south pole.
Slightly differences in color are caused by different kinds of filtered images (CH4JS, clear, violet and CH4JS, orange, clear).
Slightly differences in color are caused by different kinds of filtered images (CH4JS, clear, violet and CH4JS, orange, clear).
Really enjoying this thread Machi.
At the time these images were first released I'd been backpacking through Europe for months and had totally forgotten about the Voyager Neptune encounter. One day on the streets of Paris I saw this incredible blue disk staring back at me from a news stand. I remember just standing there staring at it for ages - I just couldn't believe how compelling and unexpected all that atmospheric structure was!
Now - back to that last image. Can I see a small bright/dark vortex thingy at the pole? Might we be looking at a miniature version of Saturn's 'evil eye'?
P
p
At the time these images were first released I'd been backpacking through Europe for months and had totally forgotten about the Voyager Neptune encounter. One day on the streets of Paris I saw this incredible blue disk staring back at me from a news stand. I remember just standing there staring at it for ages - I just couldn't believe how compelling and unexpected all that atmospheric structure was!
Now - back to that last image. Can I see a small bright/dark vortex thingy at the pole? Might we be looking at a miniature version of Saturn's 'evil eye'?
P
p
"Really enjoying this thread"
I am glad to hear that.
"Can I see a small bright/dark vortex thingy at the pole? Might we be looking at a miniature version of Saturn's 'evil eye'?"
Maybe this little animation (1 frame = 5sec real time) give answer:
I am glad to hear that.
"Can I see a small bright/dark vortex thingy at the pole? Might we be looking at a miniature version of Saturn's 'evil eye'?"
Maybe this little animation (1 frame = 5sec real time) give answer:
Wow, that animation's smooth; had to look hard twice to see that the white clouds were really moving. Nice!!!
Stop that Machi. You're making my eyes hurt 
Brilliant.
Brilliant.
Wow! That was neat! It gave the impression of just sitting there watching Neptune silently rotate underneath.
That is so relaxing to watch! Amazing work machi
Holy smokes, machi -- that's gorgeous.
That slow motion beauty could make it the opening scene for Stanley Kubrick's grandson's film 2041 A Space Iliad.
Yeah, there's definitely something @ the South Pole...can't tell if it's an innie or an outie, though.
Thanks!
Every planet, especially planets with atmosphere, looks so majestic from close.
"Yeah, there's definitely something @ the South Pole...can't tell if it's an innie or an outie, though."
I see central eye of the south pole "hurricane" and three clouds in him. One cloud is prominent, two clouds are nearly invisible.
I have somewhere article in which authors directly measured wind speed at south pole, perhaps using these clouds.
Every planet, especially planets with atmosphere, looks so majestic from close.
"Yeah, there's definitely something @ the South Pole...can't tell if it's an innie or an outie, though."
I see central eye of the south pole "hurricane" and three clouds in him. One cloud is prominent, two clouds are nearly invisible.
I have somewhere article in which authors directly measured wind speed at south pole, perhaps using these clouds.
Partial mosaic of Neptune. Four NAC images over WAC image.
Color from CH4JS, CH4U and violet WAC images.
Color from CH4JS, CH4U and violet WAC images.
Another partial mosaic of Neptune. Now at resolution 10.5 km/pix.
Color is added from global images (as uniform color).
Color is added from global images (as uniform color).
Small (10s of km) bright clouds over Neptunian South Pole Region. Narrow angle camera (NAC) image has resolution around 7.4 km/pix.
Details are extremely enhanced (in NAC image), but color (from violet and green wide angle camera images) is very decent.
Subtle shadows under two small clouds are visible.
Details are extremely enhanced (in NAC image), but color (from violet and green wide angle camera images) is very decent.
Subtle shadows under two small clouds are visible.
Not really new, but a nice article about Neptune spin time !
http://io9.com/5817732/scientists-calculat...tunes-spin-time
http://io9.com/5817732/scientists-calculat...tunes-spin-time
The article uses the puzzling phrase "we thought we knew" to suggest that the radio-based measures of the big planets are somehow invalid, but does not explain why any combination of atmospheric features, observed for any length of time, should give a better estimate of the rotation time of the planetary core. He makes a convincing case that different atmospheric strata, at different latitudes, rotate at different speeds. It is remarkable that he finds as much consistency among multiple features as he does, but why should these supplant the radio-based measures?
Some more informations can be found here:
http://uanews.org/node/40494
"So based on those radio signals, we thought we knew the rotation periods of those planets"
But when the Cassini probe arrived at Saturn 15 years later, its sensors detected its radio period had changed by about 1 percent. Karkoschka explained that because of its large mass, it was impossible for Saturn to incur that much change in its rotation over such a short time...
Even more puzzling was Cassini's later discovery that Saturn's northern and southern hemispheres appear to be rotating at different speeds.
"That's when we realized the magnetic field is not like clockwork but slipping," Karkoschka said. "The interior is rotating and drags the magnetic field along, but because of the solar wind or other, unknown influences, the magnetic field cannot keep up with respect to the planet's core and lags behind."
http://uanews.org/node/40494
"So based on those radio signals, we thought we knew the rotation periods of those planets"
But when the Cassini probe arrived at Saturn 15 years later, its sensors detected its radio period had changed by about 1 percent. Karkoschka explained that because of its large mass, it was impossible for Saturn to incur that much change in its rotation over such a short time...
Even more puzzling was Cassini's later discovery that Saturn's northern and southern hemispheres appear to be rotating at different speeds.
"That's when we realized the magnetic field is not like clockwork but slipping," Karkoschka said. "The interior is rotating and drags the magnetic field along, but because of the solar wind or other, unknown influences, the magnetic field cannot keep up with respect to the planet's core and lags behind."
Hey thanks MarcF. That sounds like a clear reason to reject the radio signal-based measure. Earth's field also meanders around and it originates in the liquid regions of the interior IIRC, so no reason to think it works differently on other planets. But I still have to doubt that any number of observations of the visible atmospheric strata are likely to conclusively match Neptune's core rate. Maybe that doesn't matter as long as you have something stable to point to. (At Saturn I suppose it might be harder to find a stable constellation of spots to observe because the seasonal broadening and narrowing of the ring shadows probably influences the rotation rate by thermally by inducing changes in the radius.)
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