The Planets- Neptune 2
During the southern summer, the south pole is in constant sunlight for about 41 years, and in northern summer, the north pole is in constant sunlight for about 41 years. Neptune's atmosphere is made up of hydrogen, helium, and methane, the last of these giving the planet its blue color (because methane absorbs red light). Despite its great distance from the Sun and lower energy input, Neptune's winds are three times stronger than Jupiter's and nine times stronger than Earth's.
In 1989, Voyager 2 tracked a large oval dark storm in Neptune's southern hemisphere. This hurricane-like "Great Dark Spot" was large enough to contain the entire Earth; spun counterclockwise; and moved
westward at almost 1,200 km per hour. Recent images from the Hubble Space Telescope show no sign of the "Great Dark Spot," although a comparable spot appeared in 1997 in Neptune's northern hemisphere.
The planet has several rings of varying widths, confirmed by Voyager 2's observations in 1989. The outermost ring, Adams, contains five distinct arcs (incomplete rings) named Liberté, Equalité 1, Equalité 2, Fraternité, and Courage. Next is an unnamed ring coorbital with the moon Galatea, then Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago, and Galle. Neptune's rings are believed to be relatively young and relatively short-lived.
Neptune has 13 known moons, six of which were discovered by Voyager 2. The largest, Triton, orbits Neptune in a direction opposite to the planet's rotation direction, and is gradually getting closer until it will collide with the planet in about 10 to 100 million years, forming vast rings around Neptune that will rival or exceed Saturn's extensive ring system. Triton is the coldest body yet visited in our solar system; temperatures on its surface are about -235 °C. Despite the deep freeze, Voyager 2 discovered great geysers of gaseous nitrogen on Triton.
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