Massive Earth-sized storm spotted on Neptune

Astronomers have observed a gigantic storm system about the size of Earth near Neptune’s equator, a region where no bright cloud has ever been seen before. The massive storm system is about 9,000 kilometres in length, or one-third the size of Neptune’s radius, spanning at least 30 degrees in both latitude and longitude. Ned Molter from University of California, Berkeley in the US observed the storm getting much brighter between June 26 and July 2.

“Seeing a storm this bright at such a low latitude is extremely surprising,” said Molter, who spotted the storm near Neptune’s equator during a dawn test run of twilight observing at W M Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii. “Normally, this area is really quiet and we only see bright clouds in the mid-latitude bands, so to have such an enormous cloud sitting right at the equator is spectacular,” said Molter.
“Historically, very bright clouds have occasionally been seen on Neptune, but usually at latitudes closer to the poles, around 15 to 60 degrees north or south,” said Imke de Pater, a professor at UC Berkeley.

“Never before has a cloud been seen at or so close to the equator, nor has one ever been this bright,” said …read more