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The furthest two planets in the Solar System both have similar masses, sizes, and atmospheric compositions, but they are different shades of blue. Scientists can finally explain why Uranus and ...
The new images are reported in a paper, ‘‘Modelling the seasonal cycle of Uranus’s colour and magnitude, and comparison with Neptune’, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal ...
Uranus emits the least heat, one-tenth as much as Neptune. It is suspected that this may be related to its extreme 98˚ axial tilt. This causes its seasonal patterns to be very different from those of any other planet in the Solar System. [2] There are still no complete models explaining the atmospheric features observed in the ice giants. [2]
Ice giants have distinctly different interior compositions from gas giants. The Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, have a hydrogen-rich atmosphere that extends from the cloud tops down to about 80% (Uranus) or 85% (Neptune) of their radius. Below this, they are predominantly "icy", i.e. consisting mostly of water, methane, and ammonia.
Astronomers have used telescope data to color-correct Voyager 2 images of Neptune and Uranus, revealing that the planets have a similar greenish blue hue.
In the outer Solar System, hydrogen and helium are referred to as "gases"; water, methane, and ammonia as "ices"; and silicates and metals as "rocks". In this terminology, since Uranus and Neptune are primarily composed of ices, not gas, they are more commonly called ice giants and distinct from the gas giants.
The Sun in true white color. The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses), [75] which comprises 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System, [76] produces temperatures and densities in its core high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. [77]
A new study has revealed that the two ice giants are actually much closer in colour than typically thought.