Weekly Planet Discussion: Neptune!

[Maji]

Bored, tired, obsessed, drinking a slurpee, so let's get down to business. Like it or not, I want to have a weekly planet discussion of the planets in the solar system! These threads aim to encourage discussion, answer any questions one may have of the planets, as well as me serenading you with my research of them. I was going to do an RTP thread, but that's too mainstream. Finally, I want to go backwards in the solar system, because I'm sure we were all just dying to talk about Mercury at the very start. So without further adieu, let us planet talk!

[spoiler=Disclaimer]I am no astronomer. merely a fan of space. If I say something dumb, incorrect, or outright out of this world [solar system], you reserve the right to call me out on it, so I can learn about proper shit and be smarter, cause that's what we all aim to do, right?

Today, we are going to talk about:

General Riff-Raff:

Neptune [now] the planet furthest from the sun, and my favourite planet ever! As seen, courtesy of the 1989 Voyager 2's flyby of the planet, Neptune hosts a beautiful oceanic azure blue hue to it. The colour, unfortunately however is not because it is an ocean world, rather because of its atmosphere (composed mainly of ammonia) that reflects light as the blue you see. Neptune is the only planet that one can not see with the naked eye (even I can see Uranus with my naked eye every now and then /obligatory Uranus pun) and requires a high powered telescope to see it. Naturally, it was discovered not by probing the sky with a telescope and cup of coffee in hand at 2am like how the other planets were found, but mathematical interpretation, as its orbit fucked with Uranus's. Finally, the next mission to Neptune unfortunately has yet to be planned, as we still have to research as to what would yield the best results for sending a probe 4.5(around, planets orbit, y'know!) billion km to a distant world.

Myths n' Shit

As said, Neptune is NOT a world of boundless ocean, like the name implies, or despite what Michiru Kaioh says, instead it is a big floating ball of gas, with a metal mixture (mainly iron) core in the middle. However, there are several rumours about the mantle, which I will discuss. Having a dense atmosphere, as well as an excellent core, which generates ample heat, rumours say that perhaps the mantle is warm enough to hold liquid something? Rumours range from ammonia oceans, to the fantastical liquid water scene, to even diamonds, liquid diamonds with diamond icebergs everywhere! However, billionaires, don't go settling to your new favourite Neptunian resort any time soon without a good pair of grounding gear, as its winds reaching some 2,000 km/h (almost twice the speed of supersonic) will send you on a wonderful journey around the planet, over and over again. The winds are said to be formed because of the heat the core and the sun give to the planet, as well as the cold air at its surface, which causes extreme wind and weather situations. That one meteorologist on here could probably explain this better than I can, I'm just a simple aspiring to be historian!

We're Invincible, Can Fly, and Aren't Affected by Wind, as well as Can Teleport, so Let's Look Around!

There is a lot to see in this planet, for one, we can go play around in the monster sized (Earth sized) storms that form there, or even watch clouds zip on by, and strike the same spot over and over. One cloud in particular, a small triangle shaped misfit named "The Scooter" which is in the southern hemisphere is a regular cloud. Flying on by over and over, no wonder why it's called a scooter! Sadly, we missed the Dark Spot, an Earth sized storm captured by Voyager 2's flyby, although I'm sure when we fly by the planet again, there will be another storm waiting to be captured on camera. Neptune also has rings, albeit nowhere near as spectacular as Saturn's, or Uranus's. The moons, named after water figures are intriguing figures, believed to be formed in Neptune's backyard, named the Kuiper Belt. One moon in particular, named Triton, is believed to have been pulled into Neptune's orbit, and as a result, rotates opposite the regular way moons rotate. It is said that Triton was once the now not planet Pluto's sister, so mayhap Pluto will be similar to Triton when we finally get to see it in 2015? Triton is the coldest body that we know of in the solar system, reaching a cool, cool -230 Celsius.

Conclusion

With a beautiful colour, rumours of riches in its apparent oceans, little aggressive clouds, volcano moons, what doesn't Neptune have that wouldn't interest someone? I think this is getting a little too long, so I'll cut it off here. Here are my favourite musical pieces regarding Neptune!

[spoiler='for boring people]Background music to TTC's "Leguman"

Fits the whole "cool" theme Neptune has going on.

Very much relates to the whole "da fuq is underneath the clouds, ocean, or more cloud?" thing, but doesn't cover the whole fuck off winds it has.

So yeah, I'll stick around for questions, comments, concerns, comparisons, or even your own input.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Maji

[Esme]

inb4 Pluto

>DEM WINDS

I like Neptune just for those 2000 mph winds.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Esme

[Maji]

inb4 Pluto

>DEM WINDS

I like Neptune just for those 2000 mph winds.

Although nowhere as near as epic as Neptune's winds, I think you'll like the week of Saturn, as it's not how windy its winds are, it's what they do to the planet itself, compared to what Neptune's winds do. Granted, I think it's a very special, unique thing Neptune has to blow its clouds around itself so quickly definitely the planet one would want to go to to watch clouds peacefully.

[Psych]

Neptune is also a lesbian. Most important fact.

[Maji]

Neptune is also a lesbian. Most important fact.

Ah man, it's so similar to its twin planet, Uranus, I thought that they were cousins!

A very beautiful lesbian may I nitpick.

[tenkiforecast]

I could start making more Sailor Moon references, but those are already done, so... moving on!

"Why are the winds on Neptune so strong?"

One idea I can come up with is the Thermal Wind relationship.

The Thermal Wind is something that I still have trouble understanding. Technically it is a result of wind shear (change in wind velocity with height), but it has to do with the horizontal temperature gradient (the change in temperature over a given length). What this means is that the stronger the temperature gradient, the stronger the potential for wind velocity.

Read more on the thermal wind Here.

This is the reason we have Jet streams in the Mid-Latitudes.

In the case of Neptune, we have a hot rocky core at the center of the planet contrasted with the frigid cold in the upper atmosphere, but it does not match the Thermal Wind all that much, so I'm not so sure.

Reading some of the sources from the Wikipedia Article, I can see what phenomena on Earth matches Neptune, and this would be the cause of the Subtropical Jet--aka, the jet that is between 20-35 degrees latitude. This jet is explained by the conservation or near conservation of Angular Momentum of air--basically think momentum, how energy is transferred from billiard ball to billiard ball but in rotation--as it rises over the equator. This happens with Neptune, but with much more air and a far, far larger area to rise over, winds pick up velocities that make Earth's look pitiful.

That's my best explanation.

[Bluedoom]

Neptune is so beautiful. That lovely Blue. <3