We’re going to cut straight to the chase: there is a Dark Vortex (a mega atmospheric storm) on Neptune, and the thing just changed direction.
While mega storms aren’t exactly rare on gas and ice giant’s like Neptune, this is the first time scientists have spotted one changing direction.
Astronomers are not sure how – or why – it has changed direction, however scientists believe if they can figure it out they will learn a huge amount about the atmospheres on other planets.
Neptune is rather hard to see when compared to other planets, and so the Dark Vortex was only discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. Since then, Hubble has been observing this ‘dark spots’ on the planet’s surface.
Up until this moment, the mega storm’s movements have stayed pretty much the same. Drifting around for a few years while moving towards the equator. However, for the first time in history scientists have seen the storm move away from the equator.
“It was really exciting to see this one act like it’s supposed to act and then all of a sudden it just stops and swings back,” said planetary scientist Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley.
“That was surprising.”
It is impossible to know exactly why the Dark Vortex is moving in the wrong direction.
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