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Neptune differs from Uranus in its typical level of meteorological activity. Voyager 2 observed weather phenomena on Neptune during its 1989 flyby, [110] but no comparable phenomena on Uranus during its 1986 flyby. The abundance of methane, ethane and acetylene at Neptune's equator is 10–100 times greater than at the poles. This is ...
For gaseous or fluid bodies, such as stars and giant planets, the period of rotation varies from the object's equator to its pole due to a phenomenon called differential rotation. Typically, the stated rotation period for a giant planet (such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) is its internal rotation period, as determined from the rotation ...
Venus rotates clockwise, and Uranus has been knocked on its side and rotates almost perpendicular to the rest of the Solar System. The ecliptic remains within 3° of the invariable plane over five million years, [2] but is now inclined about 23.44° to Earth's celestial equator used for the coordinates of poles. This large inclination means ...
Triton's orbit precesses forward relative to Neptune's rotation with a period of about 678 Earth years (4.1 Neptunian years), [4] [5] making its Neptune-orbit-relative inclination vary between 127° and 173°. That inclination is currently 130°; Triton's orbit is now near its maximum departure from coplanarity with Neptune's.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines the north pole of a planet as that which lies on Earth's north side of the invariable plane of the Solar System; [2] under this system, Venus is tilted 3° and rotates retrograde, opposite that of most of the other planets. [3] [4]
After more objects were discovered beyond Neptune, naming conventions depending on their orbits were put in place: those in the 2:3 resonance with Neptune (the plutinos) are given names from underworld myths, while others are given names from creation myths.
The Small Dark Spot, sometimes also called Dark Spot 2 or The Wizard's Eye, was an extraterrestrial vortex on the planet Neptune. [1] [2] It was the second largest southern cyclonic storm on the planet in 1989, when Voyager 2 flew by the planet. When the Hubble Space Telescope observed Neptune in 1994, the storm had disappeared. [3]
Proteus is tidally locked to Neptune, and rotates synchronously with its orbital motion, which means that Proteus always presents the same face to Neptune. [ 4 ] Proteus may have once been in a 1:2 orbital resonance with Larissa , where Proteus made one orbit for every two orbits made by Larissa.