Neptune's weather.A new analysis of old data suggests that Neptune periodically develops an atmospheric burp burp n. Noisy expulsion of gas from the stomach through the mouth. v. 1. To expel gas from the stomach through the mouth. 2. To cause a baby to expel gas from the stomach, as by patting the back after feeding. - a localized outburst similar to Saturn's white spot (SN: 11/23/91, p.332). In examining images of Neptune taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft and measurements of the planet's luminosity luminosity, in astronomy, the rate at which energy of all types is radiated by an object in all directions. A star's luminosity depends on its size and its temperature, varying as the square of the radius and the fourth power of the absolute surface temperature. recorded by an Earthbased telescope, MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronomer Heidi B. Hammel and G. Wesley Lockwood of Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory, astronomical observatory located in Flagstaff, Ariz.; it was founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who popularized the idea that Mars might support intelligent life. Its original telescope, still in operation, is a 24-in. in Flagstaff Flagstaff, city (1990 pop. 45,857), seat of Coconino co., N Ariz., near the San Francisco Peaks; inc. 1894. Lumbering, ranching, and a lively tourist trade thrive in the region, where many ruined pueblos, numerous state parks, several lakes, and large pine forests , Ariz., realized they were tracking a bright, expanding blob high in the planet's atmosphere. For example, they found that the typical daily variation in Neptune's visible-light intensity doubled in 1986. By 1987, the planet's infrared luminosity had increased five-fold. And in 1988, although the overall variation in Neptune's brightness declined, the side of the planet opposite the luminous blob increased in brightness, indicating that the atmospheric outburst had spread in a belt around the planet, a movement akin to that of Saturn's white spot. Hammel notes that Neptune experienced a similar burp in the infrared in the mid-1970s, and she now plans to track the evolution of the next outburst. She reported the work last week at the astronomy meeting in Munich. |
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