00:03as far as we know Neptune is the furthest full-size planet in our solar system orbiting
00:08the Sun some 2.69 billion miles away but that doesn't mean astronomers aren't keeping a close
00:13eye on it and recently they noticed the planet looking a little different Neptune was long
00:17known to have white streaks of clouds circling it however these images which you can see have
00:21been captured over a 26-year period reveal they've disappeared the last image captured
00:26by the Hubble Space Telescope was taken in 2020 but other observatories have continued to monitor
00:31Neptune finding that while some of the clouds have returned they haven't come back to their
00:35former levels and they seem to be gathering at the planet's south pole rather than near its
00:39equatorial areas however scientists are learning more and more about the planet via its changes in
00:43cloud cover experts say that Neptune has an 11-year cycle with regards to its clouds one they say lines
00:49up with the Sun's 11-year solar cycle two years after the Sun's activity ramps up nearing its solar
00:54maximum Neptune's clouds also seem to become more apparent with the researchers saying this could
00:59mean that the Sun's UV rays when they are at their peak power may cause a photochemical reaction producing
01:04clouds on Neptune
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