Is neptune drifting away from our solar system

Does Neptune's shifting cloud abundance drive solar activity?

Astronomers have uncovered a link between Neptune’s shifting cloud abundance and the 11-year solar cycle, in which the waxing and waning of the sun’s entangled magnetic fields drives solar activity. The journal Icarus will publish the peer-reviewed study in their November 1, 2023, issue.

Why is Neptune a stormy planet?

The sun becomes stormy as its magnetic fields become entangled, increasing sunspot numbers and the rate of violent outbursts. Astronomers have uncovered a link between Neptune’s shifting cloud abundance and the 11-year solar cycle, in which the waxing and waning of the sun’s entangled magnetic fields drives solar activity.

How does Neptune's cloud affect the solar cycle?

Neptune's cloud appear to be correlated to the solar cycle of activity. NASA/JPL The solar cycle is a cycle of the sun's activity, increasing towards the solar maximum and decreasing towards the minimum around 6 or 7 years later. At the maximum, the sun's magnetic field flips, leading to an influx of solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

Is Neptune governed by the Sun's 11-year cycle?

Astronomers think that the abundance of clouds on Neptune might be governed by the sun’s 11-year cycle, despite the planet being extremely distant from the sun. Erandi Chavez at the University of California, Berkeley, and her colleagues tracked the cloud activity on Neptune from 1994 to 2022.

What happened to Neptune's clouds?

Neptune’s clouds have disappeared. Since the first detailed images of the planet were taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989, its cerulean disc has been criss-crossed by wispy white clouds, but its skies are now almost completely clear.

Do storms on Neptune affect the solar cycle?

Storms on Neptune rising up from the deep atmosphere affect the cloud cover, but are not related to photochemically produced clouds, and hence may complicate correlation studies with the solar cycle. Continued observations of Neptune are also needed to see how long the current near-absence of clouds will last.