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Typically, these storms arise in mid-latitudes and drift towards the planet’s equator, where they weaken and then break apart. In 2018, Hubble detected a massive dark spot drifting south toward the equatorial “death zone” in Neptune’s northern hemisphere.

But two years later, to the surprise of astronomers and computer simulations, the storm had reversed course and was heading north. Also, the reversal “Dark Spot Jr.” A new, slightly smaller storm called to the south – perhaps part of the larger vortex that leaves, taking up energy and momentum, like in a cosmic game of pool.

“It was really exciting to see that it behaved the way it should and then suddenly stopped and came back,” said Michael Wong, a research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. in a news release from NASA last year. “This was surprising.”

In the latest Neptune portrait, the great dark spot is still to the north. But Junior has disappeared, and the entire arctic region is dark. Neptune weather forecasters still don’t know why.

Enjoy these cosmic postcards while you can. Became the Hubble Space Telescope been there for over 30 years, has already passed its planned useful life and has recently started to experience more frequent failures. three This year, the telescope was down for a long time due to software issues.

However, there is potentially good news that comes with the planned launch. James Webb Space Telescope in December. Webb telescope Almost three times larger than Hubble. It is designed to see infrared or “heat” radiation rather than visible wavelengths, so it can see the clouds and haze of these planets and map the heat below, shedding light on how these planets work. For a while, if all goes well – and things didn’t always go well — astronomers may have two complementary ways of understanding what’s going on out there.

And this is the weather report from the outer planets. It’s windy outside and don’t forget to apply your strongest sunscreen to Uranus.