Using the ESO's VLT, an international team of observers was able to study Neptune's Great Dark Spot with a ground-based telescope for the first time.
probe passed through the system, astronomers did not get another look at Neptune’s Great Dark Spot for twenty-nine years. By 2018, astronomers observed several more dark spots using thein Neptune’s atmosphere, including one in the northern hemisphere no one had ever seen. These observations encouraged Patrick Irwin – a professor of physics at the University of Oxford and the lead investigator – and an international team of astronomers to investigate the dark spot more closely.
to provide a 3D spectrum, allowing them to study Neptune’s atmosphere in greater detail than was ever possible. On the one hand, this spectrum provided a breakdown of the chemical composition of the different layers in Neptune’s atmosphere. Since chemicals absorb light at different wavelengths, the spectra also revealed data on the depth of each layer, allowing the team to constrain where the dark spot rests in the atmosphere.
Irwin and his team also used the VLT data to rule out the possibility that these dark spots result from clearings in the cloud layers. Instead, their observations indicate that they are likely caused by ices and hazes mixing in Neptune’s atmosphere beneath the top hazy layer, causing air particles to darken. The process was rather difficult since dark spots are not permanent features in Neptune’s atmosphere, and the distance makes detailed studies of this planet very difficult.
In addition, they were surprised to see a smaller bright cloud adjacent to the Great Dark Spot. This feature appeared as a bright spot next to the larger dark spot. The VLT spectra also revealed that this “bright spot” is at the same altitude as the main dark spot. This means it is a completely new type of feature compared to the small dark clouds composed of methane ice in the upper atmosphere that have been previously observed.
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