Scientists learn why Neptune is a darker hue than Uranus

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Uranus as seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 In a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a team of researchers led by Oxford University professor of planetary physics Patrick Irwin conclude that a layer of aerosolised particle haze, combined with Uranus’s comparatively more quiescent atmosphere, leads to the planet’s paler colour. A similar haze layers exists on Neptune, and could explain the dark spots that appear in its atmosphere, but that planet’s more turbulent atmosphere disrupts the haze layer more than on Uranus. “It’s also the first to explain the difference in visible color between Uranus and Neptune.” The researchers believe that methane condenses on the aerosol haze particles in both planets’ atmospheres, eventually falling downward as methane snow. A thinner haze layer on Neptune allows the planet’s true colors to show through, while the thicker haze layer on Uranus washes out the deeper hues.