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Neptunian Weather
10/14/2002
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi this is Bryan Yeaton. Today's page from The Weather Notebook deals with some of stormiest
weather under the sun. But just because we say under the sun, doesn't mean it's on our planet.
We do, after all share our sun with at least eight other planets. That solar energy is what
makes weather in the earth's atmosphere and in the decidedly weird atmospheres of our
planetary neighbors.
The planet Neptune has been revealing it's remarkable weather systems via the Hubbell
Telescope. Neptune seems to have some of the more blustery weather found in the solar system.
Storms there, which take place in an environment that averages about 200 below zero Celsius,
often last for one to ten years and produce winds of over 1400 kilometers per hour-that's
about 870 miles per hour. One particular storm, which blew itself out a few years ago, was
slightly larger than our entire planet.
The air on Neptune -- if you want to call it that -- is made up of hydrogen, helium and
methane, and the atmosphere shows signs of a jet stream, just like we have here. The planet
has four seasons that last for 40 years each, and each year has about 90,000 days. The
puzzling thing however, is the fact that Neptune only gets about one 900th of the energy the
earth gets from the sun. If you're wondering how so little energy can make such big weather,
you are not alone: scientists aren't sure either.
Learning about weather on Neptune may seem to have no direct importance, nobody's planning a
trip there very soon, but it might help meteorologists better understand and predict weather
here on earth. If you want to see Neptunian weather, visit our website:
www.weathernotebook.org.
The Weather Notebook is made possible by grants from The National Science Foundation, and
Subaru of America.
Today's Links
Astronomy Picture of the Day
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961028.html
The wildest weather in the solar system
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/192980.stm
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