The Closest Images Ever Taken of Neptune in 4K

thanks to novium for sponsoring today's video stick around to the end to find out how you can elevate your workspace with a novium hover pen 35 years ago history was made when for the very first time we visited the farthest known major planet in the solar system Neptune The Incredible Journey was achieved by a spacecraft with about as much computing power as a calculator but but nonetheless NASA's famous Voyager 2 spacecraft beamed back spectacular photos revealing the Magnificent ice Giant in all its blue Glory so let's take a look at the closest images we have ever captured of one of the Solar System's most elusive planets you're watching v101 space my name is Rob and if you enjoy my videos then remember to subscribe and tap the notification Bell to never miss and upload in August 1977 Voyager 2 began its grand tour of the solar system becoming the only spacecraft to visit all four of the outer planets it arrived at Neptune in 1989 12 years after its Journey began and as you can see from this mesmerizing footage captured by Voyager 2 as it approached Neptune a magnificent World wrapped in blue bands of clouds revealed itself like a blue hued sibling of Jupiter a massive slate colored storm was seen to be raging through its atmosphere and four previously unknown Rings were spotted along with six new moons after a journey of 7.1 billion kilm Voyager 2's closest encounter with Neptune only lasted a few hours but it did give us the greatest views of the planet ever achieved so far when we think of Neptune most of us will remember this famous Voyager 2 image A Portrait of the planet showing its high white clouds giant storms and of course its famous yet incorrect blue color in fact Neptune is actually a far lighter greenish blue than the Deep cobalt blue we have all come to recognize it by but if you search the internet for other photos of this magn magificent ice giant then you will be disappointed there are only a handful available something you may find surprising considering that Voyager 2 came as close as 4,950 km to Neptune it turns out however that the ice giant is not an easy target to photograph on average it is 30 times farther from the Sun than we are meaning it receives very little sunlight and by the the time Voyager 2 arrived there after its encounters with the other outer planets gave it a gravitational boost it was traveling at a blisteringly fast 27 km/ second making this exciting encounter very brief sadly because Voyager 2 was traveling so fast and because Neptune receives only 0.1% the amount of sunlight that we do here on Earth it made it very difficult to snap clear non-blurry photos of the mysterious Blue Planet but despite this by firing the thrusters to rotate the spacecraft as it passed by and taking some very long exposure photos it did manage to beam back some of the closest images ever taken of Neptune one of the most detailed close-up images was taken just 2 hours before Voyager 2 passed by Neptune as you can see it revealed long white cirrus clouds floating high up in the atmosphere but these are not like the clouds we see on Earth these are made of Frozen methane the cloud streaks stretch for thousands of kilometers parallel to Neptune's equator individual streaks are 50 to 200 km wide and you can even see Shadows being cast onto the lower Haze of about 50 km below even though Voyager 2 had visited all four of the outer gas planets it took until arriving at Neptune before the first ever Cloud Shadows were seen as this grainy image reveals these high altitude clouds are shortlived and constantly changing more recent observations such as those from the Hubble Space Telescope for example have shown that the clouds can form and dissipate relatively quickly reflecting the dynamic nature of Neptune's wild atmosphere zoom out and these thick white clouds can be seen scattered over the planet as they swiftly rotate around it below them dark bands are visible akin to Jupiter's atmosphere but not as clear as they seem to become lost in Neptune's blue haze when this image was taken powerful winds would have been whipping around the ice Giant in some places at speeds of 2,100 km an hour three times as fast as winds on Jupiter in fact and nearly nine times faster than winds recorded on earth Voyager 2 discovered that Neptune has some of the most extreme weather in the solar system and when the spacecraft passed by it saw a perfect example of this this is the closest image ever taken of the once raging Storm named The Great Dark Spot an oval anticyclone that resembled Jupiter's Great Red Spot the enormous weather pattern was about the size of the entire Earth and as you can see in this image the interior seems to be relatively cloud-free like an enormous black hole churning through Neptune's atmosphere why the storm is so dark isn't fully understood but it is likely to do with certain particles darkening in the lower layers of Neptune why this happens however is a mystery winds around the Great Dark Spot were some of the fastest observed in the solar system reaching speeds of up to 2,400 km per hour these high-speed winds contributed to the storm's Dynamic and turbulent nature as seen in this incredible footage once again large white cirrus clouds can be seen high up that are slightly shrouding the dark and light regions of the storm as they undergo rapid changes in appearance unlike Jupiter's Great Red Spot however which has been raging for hundreds of years Neptune's Great Dark Spot was only observed for a few years the spot seemed to have vanished by the time the Hubble Space Telescope photographed Neptune in 1994 before suggesting it was a temporary feature but it wasn't just the Great Dark Spot that Voyager 2 discovered to the South another large feature named the small dark spot can be seen and if we look even closer rotating clouds inside are visible this time like a giant eye staring out into space what causes these colossal Vortex storms isn't fully understood but it is likely driven in part by heating from within Neptune's mysterious core as Voyager 2 passed by it was also able to capture some stunning images of Neptune's South Pole due to the planet's tilt as it approached this image doesn't reveal too much other than some high up bright clouds but if you look carefully you can see some kind of strange feature by combining five different photos of this region to create a polar projection and enhancing the contrast the feature suddenly can be seen a strange hexagonal storm is churning there one that resembles Saturn's hexagonal Polar Storm in fact which is so large nearly four Earths could fit inside of it 35 years ago a spacecraft designed with 1970s technology achieved one of humankind's greatest Feats it successfully visited all four of the outer planets revealing them to us in all their magnificent Glory but although these images are not outdated in terms of their historic and scientific importance with modern cameras there is obviously the potential for far greater views of Neptune similar to those that we see of Jupiter for example so perhaps it is time for a new neptunian encounter but will we ever go back unfortunately as of 2024 there are no approved future missions to Neptune or Uranus which are in fact the two most unexplored planets in the solar system the problem with both of these planets is that they are so far away missions of this caliber require very good timing with today's rockets and chemical propulsion we need to use Jupiter's powerful gravity to slingshot us to towards a far away planet such as Neptune a technique that was actually used to achieve the Voyager grand tour mission all those years ago that means that Jupiter must be in just the right place which happens once every 12 to 13 years the next window is in the early 2030s so we have a long time to wait yet if we are ever going to once again see new close-up images of the mysterious ice giants for now the spectacular photos captured by the Voyager 2 spacecraft will have to do but personally I never get bored at looking at them while wondering what might be happening deep within those magnificent blue clouds space exploration has inspired humankind for decades leading to many fascinating inventions some of which we can even own such as novium h pen the sponsor of today's video voted as one of the best inventions of 2022 by time this is the interstellar Edition hover pen a unique Innovative high-end product a perfect pen for space fans like us it has lots of impressive features that are a clear tribute to Space and Science such as how the hover pen defies gravity floating seamlessly in its specially crafted magnet itic dock it resists gravity at a 23.5° angle which is the inclination of Earth's axis and is made from aircraft grade aluminium simply place this pen on your desk set it spinning in its Dock and watch as it beautifully rotates like it's floating freely in space I've had mine for a few weeks now and I love it it feels balanced comfortable to hold and is great to write with as you can see I ordered mine in space black but it comes in Starlight silver Mars magma and Neptune blue you can even upgrade to the Premium Edition which is an 18 karat goldplated version with a real meteorite Shard embedded into the hover pen connecting you even further with the wonders of our solar system novium also offer the future Edition a two-in-one fountain and roller ball pen with an interchangeable tip a great option if you want even more of a luxurious and expressive writing experience so if you're looking for a space inspired Timeless gift for a loved one or yourself then click on the link in the description and use my code v11 to get 10% off on all hover pens along with free worldwide shipping I hope you enjoyed this video If if you did then remember to like And subscribe if you want to explore the universe even further why not click on this video thanks for watching and I'll see you next time

Channel: V101 SPACE

Views: 159,627

Keywords: nasa, gas giant planet, space, documentary, great red spot, neptune, neptune planet, neptune planet real images, planet neptune, real images of neptune, the closest images ever taken of neptune, how close have we seen neptune, the clouds of neptune, voyager 2, voyager two, what does neptune look like up close, does neptune have a surface, farthest planet in the solar system, great dark spot, inside the clouds of neptune, what is hiding in the clouds of neptune

Id: c3itr-ERe3k

Length: 13min 28sec (808 seconds)

Published: Fri May 24 2024