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James Webb's New Images of Neptune Have Left Scientists Confused

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  • Published on Apr 15, 2026

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  • @astrumspace
    @astrumspace  5 months ago +647

    To those returning and new to the channel:
    This video is a supercut of our previous videos about Neptune, edited into a new seamless video, and remastered in 4K resolution. We’ve added some new science updates - we explore surprising new measurements of Neptune’s temperature, reveal new images of Neptune’s aurora from James Webb, and take a look at a mysterious object in an orbital resonance with Neptune. Enjoy!

    • @ledwards7171
      @ledwards7171 5 months ago +8

      Exactly... look at the creatures that live in and around thermal vents in the ocean or the organisms that thrive in the Antarctic ice and the little bear looking thi gs that can live in the vacuum of space. 😊

    • @johannderjager4146
      @johannderjager4146 5 months ago +11

      ​@ledwards7171, Tardigrade, they're called Tardigrades.

    • @ledwards7171
      @ledwards7171 5 months ago

      ​@johannderjager4146thank you!😂 I wanted to call them tartarus but that's Dr Whos telephone booth.😊😊

    • @DiversDesign
      @DiversDesign 5 months ago +21

      It would be totally freaky if we discovered that Neptune methane is all created by life, that its whole atmosphere top levels are full of weird Neptunian microorganisms connected into a strange hive mind, mega organism like Solaris, a whole gas giant of them. That would be cool. But in Stansilav Lem style, it would be too weird to communicate with, so we would never interact with it, it would just be there, doing its own thing. lol.

    • @svorwerk
      @svorwerk 5 months ago

      Í0 III

  • @DeadStrange
    @DeadStrange 5 months ago +1996

    Not gonna lie, I was expecting this video to be about the contents of the title. I did not expect the contents of the title to be a fraction of the video while the rest is the entire history of our investigation of Neptune.

    • @bigjermboktown6976
      @bigjermboktown6976 5 months ago +330

      Well unfortunately most of this video is also just made from older videos from his channel put into one video. It's kind of why I stopped watching this channel as often as I used to because I started realizing that's become a lot of his videos.

    • @pansepot1490
      @pansepot1490 5 months ago

      @bigjermboktown6976 recycling ♻️ is good for the environment and the wallet ;)

    • @Sillie_Car
      @Sillie_Car 5 months ago +47

      i completely forgot what the title was lol

    • @_witsd
      @_witsd 5 months ago +102

      Yup. 30 seconds in, I paused and skimmed the timeline for any suggestion of a section that tackled the title. I failed to find anything. Will be ignoring this channel in future.

    • @BrickManLive
      @BrickManLive 5 months ago +165

      This channel is notorious for stretching what could be a 5 min video to 30 mins by endlessly repeating the entire history of space exploration for the first 25 minutes while talking very slowly. It's really sad because there seems to be decent production value. But there's so much filler that it's just not worth your time. DID YOU LOOK UP IN THE NIGHT SKY? THERE IS SOMETHING WE CALL SPACE. BUT WHAT IS SPACE? IT ALL BEGAN A HUNDRED KJILLION YEARS AGO. Basically this in every single video. I've seen about 15, and that's enough. If the video obviously requires you to skip through 95% of content then might as well not even give it a watch and look somewhere else. There's plenty of better space-themed channels on YT anyway.
      UPDATE: LMAO, I honestly did not even watch the first 5 seconds of the video when writing this and it actually says "DID YOU LOOK UP IN THE NIGHT SKY?"

  • @Cosmos.SecretsoftheUniverse

    *The more I learn about space, the clearer it becomes: the universe isn’t hostile-it’s indifferent. And that’s beautiful.*

  • @TMBpk
    @TMBpk 5 months ago +1905

    As a Neptunian, I can confirm.

  • @filosophik
    @filosophik 5 months ago +1135

    9:49 "Only Hubble can probe Uranus." couldn't resist

  • @-Belshazzar-
    @-Belshazzar- 5 months ago +488

    a real human narrator. wow, thank you 🙏🏼

    • @NelsonZAPTM
      @NelsonZAPTM 5 months ago +38

      There's even real humans in the comments 😸

    • @Skigress
      @Skigress 5 months ago +18

      You must be new here. Welcome to Astrum. Enjoy the videos, astronomic trivia, and Alex’s relaxing voice. And have a nice day.

    • @winterowl3439
      @winterowl3439 5 months ago +18

      was thinking the same. dropped a like just for the actual human narration. crazy thats something we even have to look for

    • @woo1818
      @woo1818 5 months ago

      Sub to the channel. This is the best authentic astronomy channel out there

    • @Sanquinity
      @Sanquinity 5 months ago +32

      I don't trust any channel that uses AI voice. Heck they likely used AI to write the script for those videos as well. Find more channels with actual human narration. So much better.
      Anton Petrov, Astrum, Isaac Arthur, History of the universe, SEA, John Michael Godier, and V101 space, are all good.

  • @Atriaa6
    @Atriaa6 5 months ago +369

    Hi all, PhD. student working on Uranus and Neptune here. Astrum makes a really good job at simplifying without bending our current understanding of both planets, you can trust what you are listening to. If you are interested in these worlds and have any question, feel free to ask here, I will answer to the best of my knowledge - granted I'm still learning !!

    • @joshnordin4043
      @joshnordin4043 5 months ago +44

      Hi y’all, PhD diploma here. I am an actual PhD diploma so feel free to put me on your wall in your office.

    • @ggerhart
      @ggerhart 5 months ago +6

      What specifically are you studying about them?

    • @waynemorrow9136
      @waynemorrow9136 5 months ago +12

      Is the diagram at 1:56 labeled wrong? I know almost nothing about orbital mechanics but since the planets orbit counterclockwise around the sun, wouldn’t the outer planet decelerate the inner planet at position A since the inner planet would be moving away from the outer planet? And then vice versa for position B. Inner planet is moving towards the outer planet so it would accelerate?

    • @JohnnyN-I
      @JohnnyN-I 5 months ago +14

      ​@ggerhart he already said it: he's studying Uranus.

    • @PoetryPaulsPotheadPreviews
      @PoetryPaulsPotheadPreviews 5 months ago

      My proctologist is working on my anus

  • @headfella
    @headfella 5 months ago +367

    Great update. Most of us subscribers truly appreciate the effort and time spent putting such presentations together. Your channel is a wonderful astronomical resource. Kudos to all involved in this effort. It’s much appreciated🎉.

    • @astrumspace
      @astrumspace  5 months ago +36

      Thanks for the kind words, and for supporting the channel!

    • @seanaldthesean
      @seanaldthesean 5 months ago +4

      @astrumspacei used to watch your channel all the time. but nowadays when i click on an interesting title and find it was hardly discussed, or most of the info was repeat, i’m just disappointed. decided to give this one a try and same disappointment.

    • @stevenmitchell1
      @stevenmitchell1 5 months ago

      ​@seanaldthesean Yes, unfortunately it's been the same experience for me.

  • @ShakeezShucks
    @ShakeezShucks 5 months ago +274

    bro imagine going "yeah uranus is acting funky theres gotta be another planet after it and i know exactly where it is
    and ur friend goes alright bet lmao
    and then goes "what the fuck youre right"

    • @Quantiad
      @Quantiad 5 months ago +9

      What I love is that there will be discoveries happening today that use exactly that language 😂

    • @adamwaterhouse7412
      @adamwaterhouse7412 5 months ago +23

      Yeah, observing local performance of other objects is indeed a useful observational habit.
      Why just the other day I was coming home and passing a bend in the freeway, I noticed irregular behavior of the cars as they passed. Sure enough, there was a speed trap cop, just Neptuning away behind some bushes.

    • @MAC...007
      @MAC...007 5 months ago +1

      Great you've got the part for the kiddies show.

    • @christiandenton2174
      @christiandenton2174 24 days ago

      Nice 80 IQ breakdown

  • @MathCarmignani19
    @MathCarmignani19 5 months ago +335

    Not voyager 2 departing straight to uranus using a rare planet alignment 😭

    • @brandonwalker5011
      @brandonwalker5011 5 months ago

      🤡

    • @AugustPixelz
      @AugustPixelz 5 months ago +6

      and they are still going not bad for spacecraft made when they where now days things are made to break

    • @MathCarmignani19
      @MathCarmignani19 5 months ago +3

      ​@AugustPixelzwhy are they still going is uranus that big 😭

    • @fgn376
      @fgn376 5 months ago +9

      @MathCarmignani19 voyager 2 is very very very far away from anything rn im pretty sure its acc the furthest (along with voyager one) man made object from earth at 12bn miles from earth where as uranus is 1.8bn miles away so ahahha

    • @Triumph633
      @Triumph633 5 months ago

      @fgn376 woosh

  • @luissantos5244
    @luissantos5244 5 months ago +59

    I heard that technically Neptune was spotted by Galileo. He was observing Jupiter and saw Neptune, but that it moved so slowly that he mistakenly cataloged it as a star. Talk about a crazy coincidence.

    • @user-h5k7b
      @user-h5k7b 5 months ago

      The 🙄”primitive” Dogon taught you racist dogs all you know

    • @brucemacmillan9581
      @brucemacmillan9581 5 months ago +2

      ???

    • @DrachenGothik666
      @DrachenGothik666 5 months ago +3

      Huh? The OP didn't make any racist comments. He certainly didn't mention the Dogon people. Did you perhaps reply to the wrong comment?

    • @Peterbrendanalbert
      @Peterbrendanalbert 5 months ago

      ​@DrachenGothik666Pro Victim judging by his/her channel

    • @seashanty4597
      @seashanty4597 4 months ago +2

      I saw a professor present his theory that Galileo suspected Neptune's true nature, but given his troubles with the church, skating on thin ice already, he shrewdly chose to not push his luck. He left a cryptic note in the margin of his observation records that it may have moved, which may or may not have been a knowing hint.

  • @JC-2003-i5i
    @JC-2003-i5i 5 months ago +254

    This planet has intrigued me and this video came just in time, thanks!

    • @astrumspace
      @astrumspace  5 months ago +18

      So glad to hear it! Enjoy

    • @harrymacdonald858
      @harrymacdonald858 5 months ago +1

      Cartoon !

    • @janetsmiley6778
      @janetsmiley6778 5 months ago

      I remember when the Voyager 2 made it’s grand tour and the tiny blue dot (earth) that it photographed on the way out of the solar system.

    • @SaanMigwell
      @SaanMigwell 5 months ago

      Here is an intriguing fact about neptune. It is not actually a blue planet, Nasa enhanced the voyager photos and colored them blue because the actual photos looked exactly like Uranus, and that just wouldn't do for public interest.

    • @JC-2003-i5i
      @JC-2003-i5i 5 months ago

      ​@SaanMigwell As far as I know, that wasn't the reason... Neptune's photo was edited to make the details of its surface more visible. Neptune also remains blue, just in a much paler shade.

  • @kase8657
    @kase8657 5 months ago +90

    0:12 can you really see Uranus with the unaided eye? I’ve tried looking for it before and never seen it, I always imaged it was probably just too dim.

    • @ReynoldJamesPulitzer
      @ReynoldJamesPulitzer 5 months ago +35

      If it's a very clear night with very little light pollution you can see it unaided.
      I got to see Uranus on a boat in the Pacific, it was a new moon and we turned the lights off temporarily.

    • @fingersmike
      @fingersmike 5 months ago +89

      You might need a mirror. Sorry, I had to say it

    • @71timmay71
      @71timmay71 5 months ago +5

      @fingersmikelike a telescope mirror?? He’s saying unaided so why do you need a mirror?? That’s just cheating

    • @blythesprite7096
      @blythesprite7096 5 months ago +37

      @71timmay71cuz you're looking where the stars don't shine

    • @ThisCatBoring
      @ThisCatBoring 5 months ago

      ​@71timmay71 Oh you sweet summer child

  • @quarkcypher
    @quarkcypher 5 months ago +169

    It's a shame the various space agencies on Earth can't work together and pool their resources. I have been fascinated by the cosmos since the first Moon landing in 1969. Love these videos.

    • @toneloke7489
      @toneloke7489 5 months ago +67

      If we would fund space exploration with half of the funding we spend on killing each other.

    • @scarecrowr
      @scarecrowr 5 months ago +16

      @toneloke7489 Defending sovereignty is more important than some random space rocks and balloons.

    • @ChaosCat79
      @ChaosCat79 5 months ago +61

      @scarecrowr Defending "sovereignty" with more than twice the budget of the world's other militaries combined, is paranoia going on insanity.

    • @frumpsterfire
      @frumpsterfire 5 months ago +1

      @scarecrowr " Defending sovereignty" by inciting proxy wars and pussying out of the sandbox

    • @BanditxFox
      @BanditxFox 5 months ago +23

      @scarecrowr what a naive take...

  • @agaba5500
    @agaba5500 5 months ago +3

    3:59 this animation of the voyager mission is marvelous

  • @sitivimoga
    @sitivimoga 5 months ago +115

    Neptune is one of my targets I need to hit with my Celestron 6SE. I have seen Uranus and wow, that perfect, tiny blue dot was breathtaking.

    • @josephpeters8424
      @josephpeters8424 5 months ago +9

      I've seen Uranus and Neptune with my 10" dobsonian and Neptune was small enough it was almost star-like.

    • @sitivimoga
      @sitivimoga 5 months ago +1

      @josephpeters8424 Wow, with this 6" 6SE, it will be a pinpoint, heh.

    • @scrubcentral174
      @scrubcentral174 5 months ago +6

      i assume your talking about a telescope and not an inter-planetary missile /joke

    • @bobbobby9505
      @bobbobby9505 5 months ago +10

      I’m laughing, I’m a grown man and I can’t stop laughing
      “I have seen Uranus and wow”

    • @unfiltered577
      @unfiltered577 5 months ago +1

      ​@josephpeters8424yeah, well, mines at least 15"

  • @pashabiceps95
    @pashabiceps95 5 months ago +7

    6:58 nearly?

    • @marianastefani1159
      @marianastefani1159 5 months ago +5

      Yeah it's almost double the speed of sound, don't know what he meant with nearly

  • @amesbrice
    @amesbrice 5 months ago +103

    I just canclled my trip next summer. Thank you!

    • @vsrifter
      @vsrifter 5 months ago +6

      😂😂

    • @PhillipBell
      @PhillipBell 5 months ago +11

      Good choice, I was there several years ago, and the price of sunlight was out of this world.

    • @amesbrice
      @amesbrice 5 months ago +10

      ​@PhillipBellits the locals you gotta worry about. They over charge like crazy. 😂

  • @fuffoon
    @fuffoon 5 months ago +3

    I liked hearing that Neptune has many more stories to tell. Its been one of those days and thinking about Neptune and the Three Bears made me smile.

  • @Puar-Adi-Mundi
    @Puar-Adi-Mundi 5 months ago +39

    Its because we haven't been calling as often as we'd promised, honestly I understand, I'd be getting a little cold at this point too...

    • @yakhooves
      @yakhooves 5 months ago +6

      But we've been busy!! We're totally gonna call next week though...

    • @meow2kz8eg4k
      @meow2kz8eg4k 5 months ago +1

      It's*

  • @otrondal
    @otrondal 5 months ago +14

    At 6:42 the colors are approximately the same as Uranus' ... It was a NASA anomaly to publish it as blue the first time. Because it looks good with blue.

    • @DiggyPT
      @DiggyPT 5 months ago +2

      not really an anomaly, they publish false colour stuff all the time, and they said that the photo had higher contrast so that people could see the clouds better, but then people spread the photo around and forgot about that so everyone stayed beleiving that it was deep blue

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago +2

      so.. brown?

    • @otrondal
      @otrondal 5 months ago +1

      @DiggyPT Not the point. His argument was that methan create blue.

    • @DiggyPT
      @DiggyPT 5 months ago

      ​@otrondalyeah but you said it was an anomaly and it was just because it looks good with blue, i was just correcting that

    • @otrondal
      @otrondal 5 months ago +1

      @DiggyPT Yes, thank you for correcting the anomaly. U is more greenish.

  • @Samuelhere41
    @Samuelhere41 5 months ago +61

    One of the dreams I’ve had was to view Neptune in my telescope. I just unfortunately live in a bad area, filled with crime and light pollution. One day, I shall.

    • @I.amthatrealJuan
      @I.amthatrealJuan 5 months ago

      If you have a telescope, you will still be able to see Neptune. You just will have a harder time finding it.

    • @ErnlMontyPoonoe
      @ErnlMontyPoonoe 5 months ago +20

      Just view Uranus instead. All you need is a mirror.

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago +10

      what does crime have to do with using a telescope to peep planets?

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago

      @ErnlMontyPoonoe boom!!! hahahahahahaaha

    • @tbaIIer
      @tbaIIer 5 months ago +18

      ​@raidermaxx2324Apparently you've never been robbed of your telescope

  • @-TNIGHT-
    @-TNIGHT- 5 months ago +17

    you know you'r day is perfect when you get a new Astrum video !

  • @ghosttimm420
    @ghosttimm420 5 months ago +144

    Hello, I'm not Alex McColgan and today you're watching Astrum. Narrated by Alex McColgan.

    • @Ozymandi_as
      @Ozymandi_as 5 months ago +7

      I have no reason not to take him at his word !

    • @robp2253
      @robp2253 5 months ago

      @Ozymandi_as 🤣🤣🤣😇

  • @kob8634
    @kob8634 5 months ago +12

    I very much doubt scientists were shocked.

    • @zenlandzipline
      @zenlandzipline 5 months ago +7

      Flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. Speechless. Blown away.
      But no, not shocked.

    • @kob8634
      @kob8634 5 months ago

      @zenlandzipline lol!

    • @A-lik
      @A-lik 5 months ago

      Maybe more like a humble "Huh. Neat."

    • @DrachenGothik666
      @DrachenGothik666 5 months ago +1

      I like to think they pulled a Spock: **raises an eyebrow,** "Fascinating."

  • @brown2889
    @brown2889 5 months ago +21

    Neptune and Uranus need more observation!🪐

  • @demian7567
    @demian7567 5 months ago +64

    I finally saw it thru binoculars just the other day when it was in conjunction with saturn. Remarkably blue

    • @ml_gamer8344
      @ml_gamer8344 5 months ago +7

      Is it really? Apparently its paler than most people think

    • @demian7567
      @demian7567 5 months ago +12

      ​@ml_gamer8344it's hard to tell because it's so faint, but it seemed an ocean blue

    • @ml_gamer8344
      @ml_gamer8344 5 months ago

      ​@demian7567 man i want a telescope

    • @bananafan6742
      @bananafan6742 5 months ago +1

      ​@demian7567Through my 11 inch SCT it's incredibly blue at ~90x. Any higher and it and starts losing color because of how dim it is.

    • @Maxwellchaos7439
      @Maxwellchaos7439 5 months ago +3

      just binoculars? wow! I hope someday I can get a telescope to get a really good view of Neptune and the other planets

  • @ScienceCosmic86
    @ScienceCosmic86 5 months ago +5

    05:40 A 40-year-long spring? Can you imagine the pollen? My allergies would simply disintegrate me.

  • @stevensavoie856
    @stevensavoie856 3 months ago +1

    00:15
    The content you're here for is at 13:22

  • @AndyAdventuring
    @AndyAdventuring 5 months ago +5

    Your videos are incredibly good. Congrats and thanks.

  • @matthewplehn
    @matthewplehn Month ago +1

    this was really good. Thank you

  • @RandomUser311
    @RandomUser311 5 months ago +20

    13:50 dropped by "hundreds of degrees"? How is that possible given that its average temperature of -200°C is only 73°C above absolute zero?

    • @CanisMythson
      @CanisMythson 5 months ago +2

      ... Measured in Kelvin?

    • @RandomUser311
      @RandomUser311 5 months ago +6

      @CanisMythson Kelvin equals Celsius -273.15. This means that Neptune's average temperature of -200°C equals 73.15K. My point is that it can't drop by hundreds of degrees further. He might refer to some specific place in the atmosphere where it might have been warmer and could still drop that far or maybe he used Fahrenheit but that would be weird and should have been mentioned. Or it might just be a mistake.

    • @herpyderp3384
      @herpyderp3384 5 months ago +1

      @RandomUser311I caught that mistake as well, dropping my comment here in case he responds to you

    • @sidneylemon1951
      @sidneylemon1951 5 months ago +3

      The stratosphere was observed to have a significant drop in temperature, while the troposphere (which is averaging at -200°C) did not appear to have any significant change.

    • @pokestep
      @pokestep Month ago +1

      @CanisMythson Kelvin does not use degrees. It's not "degrees Kelvin".

  • @IceCap9629
    @IceCap9629 4 months ago +1

    The Great Dark Spot will forever be a part of Neptune's identity

  • @buffalopilot8224
    @buffalopilot8224 5 months ago +19

    Great video! The information is presented in a way that non-technical people can understand. Adding the awesome photos and graphics combines for a really interesting and educational presentation. Great work! Thank you for the time and effort - it is very much appreciated!

  • @PTRT420
    @PTRT420 5 months ago

    I always love to lean more about Neptune despite it having frozen fart crystals :D

  • @fabrisseterbrugghe8567
    @fabrisseterbrugghe8567 5 months ago +4

    I remember seeing a planetary alignment in the mid 1990s. That week was the only time I saw Mercury. And the alignment was quite something: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and, dimly, Uranus all in a diagonal from the horizon to nearly mid-sky.

  • @jorsta
    @jorsta 5 months ago +1

    Watching your channel makes me feel like a young child again, peering into the stars, wondering about what's beyond. I wish I could go back to that time.

  • @ScottDJohnston
    @ScottDJohnston 5 months ago +7

    I wish we had dedicated spacecrafts to orbit and study both Neptune and Uranus.

    • @ElGrecko11
      @ElGrecko11 5 months ago +1

      The latter is called CornHub 🌽 😂

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago +1

      meh. Europa and Titan are the GOATS for scientific exploration imo

    • @ScottDJohnston
      @ScottDJohnston 5 months ago

      @raidermaxx2324 They've already had missions. More would be cool, but Neptune would be amazing, as would Triton

    • @miquellluch1928
      @miquellluch1928 5 months ago

      What do you want to know?

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago

      @ScottDJohnston Not only that, the best we can do is take pictures from outer space above the atmosphere, above Neptune.. Catching a glimpse of "ice burgs made of diamonds" floating in endless oceans of liquid hydrogen or methane or whatever, is going to stay a thing only seen in your imagination. With Europa, we can actually explore the 100 km deep ocean with a submersible since we have already figured out how to get thru the 20 km of ice so its just a matter of doing it. Wouldnt you rather explore an alien ocean, that has the potential for life, or a dead rock that we know is a dead rock? Thats crazy to me

  • @spencerherron5539
    @spencerherron5539 Month ago +1

    I do like that you can hear the enthusiasm in his voice. He clearly has a passion for his subject matter.

  • @not36327
    @not36327 5 months ago +8

    Alex, i love these videos. watch them every night with my young son when we go to bed. you have the perfect narrator voice lol. thanks for entertaining us.

  • @SantiVelmont
    @SantiVelmont 4 months ago +1

    9:59 “wind speeds on Uranus are fast, too.”
    It’s the darn middle schooler in me 😪 And I don’t think he’ll ever leave 🙂‍↔️

  • @gvvrdgcv9057
    @gvvrdgcv9057 5 months ago +37

    Ooo spacey space time

  • @davemason6870
    @davemason6870 5 months ago

    Thank you, Alex. That was a fascinating watch!

  • @dreacul
    @dreacul 4 months ago +3

    I used to have nightmares when I was a kid, with Neptune's big storm eye.
    Thank goodness I didn't had nightmares with Uranus, I would've felt uncomfortable mentioning it. xD

  • @cymatiste
    @cymatiste 5 months ago +1

    Very cool, thank you for such a comprehensive overview!

  • @mikesmithmass508
    @mikesmithmass508 5 months ago +46

    Love this channel, it's brought me and my parents together for the first time in years, thank you for your work it's amazing!

  • @kyokyo47
    @kyokyo47 5 months ago +1

    Really helpful! Thank you

  • @TechniquesSpatiales
    @TechniquesSpatiales 5 months ago +11

    If I may just correct tiny misconception in this otherwise wonderful video, a concept that causes confusion for many people: “wind speed” on giant planets.
    On Earth, wind speed is defined by its speed relative to the point on the ground below. But on a planet made up mainly of gas, what does that mean?
    In the video you claim that Neptune has (indeed) winds of 2,160 km/h, which should be a "nearly a supersonic flow". But no, it doesn't work like that.
    On a giant planet, when we say, for example, that Jupiter rotates on its axis in 9 hours and 55 minutes, we're not talking about the visible clouds, we're only talking about its magnetic field, which is not perfectly symmetrical and rotates at that speed. It's a good indicator of what's happening deep inside the planet. Neptune's 2,160 km/h winds are calculated as the difference in rotational speed between each visible cloud and this deep rotational period. It is therefore not a horizontal or vertical speed, but the accumulation of a speed gradient between the depths of the planet and the visible surface.
    In a simplified case, if the interior of Neptune rotates at 0 km/h by convention and 10,000 km higher up at the surface we have 2,160 km/h of “wind,” each time we climb 5 km, the air only goes 1 km/h faster. In other words, it is completely calm. As we progress towards the surface, in this ideal case we will reach a speed of 2,160 km/h compared to what is happening thousands of kilometers below us, but in absolute calm, without wind or gusts. Everything would be rotating at the same speed as us.
    This is a far cry from “near supersonic flow”; it would be like saying that the Moon revolves around the Earth at supersonic speed, which doesn't really make sense.
    In reality, since, among other things, it is a sphere that rotates and there are convection currents, there are masses of air that move and rub against each other, so there are whirlwinds, and someone in a hot air balloon on Neptune might feel wind as they pass from one whirlwind to another, but we are then very, very far from 2,160 km/h. The strongest cyclones have speeds of a few hundred km/h... compared to other clouds located thousands of km away, so even our daring aeronaut in this cyclone might not notice anything until he sees other clouds far away moving in a different direction from his own.

    • @Sashazur
      @Sashazur 5 months ago

      Thanks for explaining this! Also if you’re in a less dense part of the atmosphere, even if it’s moving very fast, it’s got a lot less energy to push you around. The wind storm in the movie The Martian is a good example, it was not portrayed accurately. In reality wind at that speed in Mars’s thin atmosphere wouldn’t have been able to do that much damage.

    • @Mike5Bravo
      @Mike5Bravo 25 days ago

      Thank you for that explanation.

  • @breendart134
    @breendart134 Month ago

    When I was a kid, we had to do an elementary school research and presentation project on a planet. I got Neptune, so I spent a lot of time reading about it. I got my hands on a whole book about Neptune. It has a soft spot in my heart

  • @RwnEsper
    @RwnEsper 5 months ago +9

    The Neptune and Pluto Voyager flybys were probably the reason I have had such an interest in space since the early 90s.

    • @coolTOM6547
      @coolTOM6547 5 months ago +3

      did they really fly by pluto? i thought that was new horizons

    • @RwnEsper
      @RwnEsper 5 months ago +2

      ​@coolTOM6547This is correct, I'm just getting senile in my dotage. 😅
      "Back in my day Pluto was a planet" *grumble grumble*

    • @coolTOM6547
      @coolTOM6547 5 months ago +1

      @RwnEsperlmaooo its all good brother 😂

  • @joeendel3614
    @joeendel3614 5 months ago

    Thanks for this great vid!

  • @carloskokinda2571
    @carloskokinda2571 5 months ago +5

    I wish NASA had the funding for a Neptune Orbiter mission

    • @joshnordin4043
      @joshnordin4043 5 months ago

      Your inner world is much more vast and interesting than the physical universe

    • @blythesprite7096
      @blythesprite7096 5 months ago

      @joshnordin4043the universe created my inner mind

    • @joshnordin4043
      @joshnordin4043 5 months ago

      @blythesprite7096not your inner mind your inner world. Your mind is just a small part of it.

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago +1

      too bad we elected trump who let elon doge NASA out of existence by almost completely defunding it. Your only hope is china from now on .

  • @bigjermboktown6976
    @bigjermboktown6976 5 months ago +2

    It would be really cool if we could figure out a way to design a spaceship that could be able to take humans out to Neptune and back. There's just something about Neptune that has always been so mysterious and fascinating and just thinking about what it would be like to actually be able to fly out and see it relatively close would be incredible.

  • @coolal19
    @coolal19 5 months ago +3

    If Neptune were to have an extreme shift in its orbital dynamics, you can kiss Uranis goodbye.

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago

      good thing neptune wont have an extreme shift of orbital mechanics then

  • @thors_bane
    @thors_bane 5 months ago +6

    Seriously brings a whole new meaning to "winter is coming."

    • @Volkbrecht
      @Volkbrecht 5 months ago +1

      Meh, not really. With only 10 K difference, whatever you're wearing to stay toasty down there will probably be fine all "year" round ;)

  • @timokreuzer1820
    @timokreuzer1820 5 months ago +68

    "The final Planet - Neptune" ... sad Pluto noises.

    • @meow2kz8eg4k
      @meow2kz8eg4k 5 months ago

    • @AnakinSANE
      @AnakinSANE 5 months ago +9

      Pluto is still a planet in my book.

    • @panzerabwerkanone
      @panzerabwerkanone 4 months ago +4

      @AnakinSANE MPAPA! Make Pluto A Planet Again!

    • @crazyaspe1926
      @crazyaspe1926 4 months ago +2

      ​@panzerabwerkanone Oh yeah? Well the problem with that is if you make Pluto a planet, that means dwarf planets count as planets, and if that's the case, then Ceres, Orcus, Salacia, Haumea, Quaoar, Makemake, Gonggong, Eris and Sedna would all be planets too. What's easier for kids to learn: eight planets, or eighteen? It's much easier if Pluto is its own thing.

    • @chefntoast
      @chefntoast 4 months ago +4

      Pluto is still our 9th planet , we shall never forget

  • @dominiclester3232
    @dominiclester3232 5 months ago

    What a clear and great video, thanks!

  • @shaakunthala
    @shaakunthala 5 months ago +22

    Finally a video about what's next to Uranus.

  • @realandsurreal
    @realandsurreal 5 months ago

    Cool video! Thanks!

  • @aaronheaton5903
    @aaronheaton5903 5 months ago +5

    Don't book Netune for your hols this year.

  • @giuliobruschini5504
    @giuliobruschini5504 5 months ago +1

    *Gemini Home Entertainment intro starts playing*

  • @marieleelee
    @marieleelee 5 months ago +16

    4:56 it kind of takes my breath away when I realize there’s planets out there. I mean I KNOW there are but seeing those pictures, it makes it more real to me.

    • @brianhowe201
      @brianhowe201 5 months ago +2

      I remember feeling that way when I saw the pictures of pluto for the first time. The first new planet pictures to come out in my lifetime.

    • @bwayagnes
      @bwayagnes 5 months ago +1

      FRR it’s wild to think about it

    • @apolloeosphoros4345
      @apolloeosphoros4345 5 months ago

      Every new exoplanet announcement gives me this feeling too

  • @SteveFromStockport
    @SteveFromStockport 5 months ago +1

    That was excellent. Fascinating. Thank you very much!

  • @markboyles8019
    @markboyles8019 5 months ago +7

    Climate change on Neptune. Imagine that.

    • @joshnordin4043
      @joshnordin4043 5 months ago +1

      It’s because there’s no carbon tax on Neptune!

    • @BobBob-q2o5p
      @BobBob-q2o5p 5 months ago +2

      Definitely due to poor people having vehicles and heating their homes.

  • @SMc-in5bc
    @SMc-in5bc 5 months ago

    Look, my wife may look like Danny DeVito but her and I have spent so many amazing evenings looking though our telescope at the tiny blue planet. It is amazing how the Webb is changing how we think about our planetary counterparts.

  • @beylie1387
    @beylie1387 5 months ago +3

    I've come to appreciate your voice, dude. The voice of authority on the cosmos.

  • @whitneylake2107
    @whitneylake2107 3 months ago

    Always fascinating !

  • @emceeboogieboots1608
    @emceeboogieboots1608 5 months ago +8

    We steered Voyager 2 to within 5000km of Neptunes pole after bouncing it around the solar system half a dozen times? Bloody remarkable. Hooray for people that have the patience for maths

  • @AlexPanchal-g1l
    @AlexPanchal-g1l 5 months ago

    Super informative, learned a lot.

  • @nealbapat567
    @nealbapat567 5 months ago +22

    @Astrum you need to include that Neptune is not naturally blue but upscaled to blue to better see the storms. Otherwise its normal color is grey like Uranus.

    • @Chloeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
      @Chloeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 5 months ago +2

      6:42

    • @1sanitat1
      @1sanitat1 5 months ago +8

      It is blue (like Uranus is), just not THAT blue

    • @GigaChuddha
      @GigaChuddha 5 months ago +5

      Wrong. That is all.

    • @Mike__G
      @Mike__G 5 months ago +5

      Saw it in my 10” telescope. Pretty sure it was a tiny blue disk. Pretty sure I was’t imagining it.

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago

      dont lie its brown i just checked in the mirror yesterday

  • @daveicaria
    @daveicaria 5 months ago

    Absolutely love your videos.

  • @JeromyBranch
    @JeromyBranch 5 months ago +4

    I missed it. What exactly did the jwst reveal that shocked scientists? And who are these scientists who were shocked by the thing that the jwstrevealed? And what do they have to say about it? Cool video for sure but the title....

  • @bigsarge2085
    @bigsarge2085 5 months ago +1

    Incredible!

  • @nroose
    @nroose 5 months ago +7

    Your comment on the fact that it’s only been about one Neptune year since it was discovered made me look up Pluto. Pluto was a planet for only 1/4-1/3 of one of its orbits!

    • @Sanquinity
      @Sanquinity 5 months ago

      Technically is still a planet. Just a sub-class of planets now. And the king of the dwarf sub class no less.

    • @TheLithophile
      @TheLithophile 5 months ago

      ​@Sanquinity Dwarf planets should be a subclass of planets, like terrestrial planets are a subclass, but according to the IAU, dwarf planets aren't planets. You'd think they'd call them something else then, but here we are.

  • @UgcgmpIpataki
    @UgcgmpIpataki 5 months ago +2

    This should be in history books.

  • @sovereign254
    @sovereign254 5 months ago +11

    Neptune is truly a wondrous world of extremes. From temperatures so cold it would freeze you solid super fast, to winds fast enough to shear your meat from your bones, to raining diamonds formed from methane and the strongest storms of any planet despite having little-to-no solar energy input, Neptune could give Saturn a run for its money on being the crown jewel of the Sol system.

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago +3

      raining diamonds is a hypothesis but is yet to be confirmed and possibly not happening

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 5 months ago +3

      also, which planet is the crown jewel by societies determination is subjective at this point. why not make it your crown jewel and start a new zeitgeist? after all, Jupiter is mine. Saturn is meh. The rings are overrated. Jupiter has a crazy atmosphere and at least 3 moons that have the potential to harbor life, possibly even more! Triton is jut a frozen hunk of ice. Booooooring, Who cares if it was captured planetoid and it rotates backwards. YAWN... But thats why iJupiter not only is the KING, but its my crown jewel. Besides, i never responded to the survey they sent out, on which planet is the crown jewel of our solar system.... :P

    • @chrispratt9606
      @chrispratt9606 5 months ago

      Uranus is too

  • @jonhart-o5m
    @jonhart-o5m 2 months ago

    amazing Alex and ty much friend!

  • @arkadybron1994
    @arkadybron1994 5 months ago +4

    This is one of the things that I find intensely irritating with the internet as it is today and it's happening more and more. The title of this video is "
    James Webb's New Images of Neptune Shocked Scientists ". I am now a minute a minute and a half into the video and the narrator is talking events that happened nearly two centuries ago and I am being shown a montage of 19th century etchings. I would really like either more concisely titled content, or content that is edited within the bounds of the title.

  • @DavidBush-wm1fe
    @DavidBush-wm1fe 4 months ago

    Very well done! Thank you.

  • @AstroTibs
    @AstroTibs 5 months ago +3

    "It can sometimes be farther than Pluto"
    That's on Pluto and its eccentric orbit.

  • @Shanee510
    @Shanee510 5 months ago

    Thank you for this

  • @islandsedition
    @islandsedition 5 months ago +23

    15:38 fun fact, the ring called La Verrier on Neptune has a sister ring on Uranus called La Derrière.

  • @giannidcenzo
    @giannidcenzo 5 months ago

    Great episode.

  • @thekingofmojacar5333
    @thekingofmojacar5333 5 months ago +12

    Thanks for the nice (and cool) video Alex!
    Minus 274 degrees Celsius is the theoretical lowest temperature.
    Neptune isn't far behind (215 - 235 degrees Celsius below zero)...

  • @thatpossum19
    @thatpossum19 5 months ago +2

    Neptune is my favorite planet, so this was an immediate click. :D Love your work!

  • @JimmyJarrett-c9l
    @JimmyJarrett-c9l 5 months ago +5

    Mate, I can say with no shadow of a doubt that this is the best content on RUclips, I don't just mean science based. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in.

    • @henrygagne8255
      @henrygagne8255 5 months ago +2

      This is a slop he renames the same 6 scripts. watch SEA not this private equity owned shill

  • @RFToob
    @RFToob 5 months ago +1

    Wow it’s really quite beautiful.

  • @rogerprout5574
    @rogerprout5574 5 months ago +4

    Why the blurry images?? If JWST can take focused images of far off galaxies then why not focused images of Neptune and the other planets and the moon?

    • @YourBeastRoy
      @YourBeastRoy 5 months ago +2

      Bc galaxies are brighter and still larger in the sky relative to the planets

    • @Denverian
      @Denverian 5 months ago +5

      JWST is designed to look at faint objects far away. planets in solar system are way too bright and close to it. Imagine looking at an led right in front of your eyes. what can you see besides a bright light?

    • @HarryBalls69
      @HarryBalls69 5 months ago

      @Denverianvery well explained thanks dude

  • @spinthis56
    @spinthis56 5 months ago

    EXCELLENT!!!

  • @xpr3ss.755
    @xpr3ss.755 5 months ago +16

    Now theyre saying theres global cooling on neptune 😮‍💨

  • @Mossback666
    @Mossback666 5 months ago +4

    Neptune is cool, but I am always curious about Uranus.

  • @charlesachurch7265
    @charlesachurch7265 5 months ago +1

    Great presentation thanks xxx

  • @toneloke7489
    @toneloke7489 5 months ago +6

    It's crazy how the French astronomer was able to observe the orbit of Uranus & determine that something was influencing the planets orbit, given it takes 84 for it to orbit the Earth.

    • @Robutube1
      @Robutube1 5 months ago +2

      I was equally impressed. Some people are a level of clever I can't even contemplate.

  • @AlexandrKovalenko
    @AlexandrKovalenko 5 months ago

    AAAAAA THANK YOU!

  • @MarcusWolfWanders
    @MarcusWolfWanders 5 months ago +28

    3:07 "Neptune is the eighth, and furthest "planet" from the sun"
    as an early 90s kid, my sorrow over Pluto's reclassification will never fade. Regardless, I'm so glad that I was able to see the results of the fly-by! Pluto deserves so much more respect and study

    • @mrbejam
      @mrbejam 5 months ago

      Have you seen the Rick and Morty episode about Pluto?

    • @arturaslusnikovas8173
      @arturaslusnikovas8173 5 months ago

      Pluto most likely will end up as moon too.

    • @dismo021
      @dismo021 5 months ago

      ​@mrbejamhe's a plutonian 😳

    • @levanataylor790
      @levanataylor790 5 months ago +1

      Well, I learned to recite the names of the nine planets in the 1970s, and I didn't have the same reaction to the Pluto debate as you. As soon as I heard about Eris I knew this was going to force a debate about definitions.
      I was prepared for change because I had already learned so many new things about space in my life. In the 1980s no one had any idea what quasars were; and I heard about the inflationary hypothesis in cosmology when it was still brand new... I think the weirdest one was finding out that our galaxy has a massive black hole at its center. When I was a kid black holes seemed like such extraordinary exotic things (I mean, they are.. just knowing there are a lot of them shouldn't make us blasé!) The first actual black hole, until then just a theoretical prediction, was detected in the year I was born.
      So, in the 1990s I already knew that Pluto had a moon or companion we didn't know about when I was little -- discovered in 1978 (btw I am currently a fan of calling Pluto/Charon a double object) and studies of the two bodies' interactions confirmed that Pluto was way smaller than once thought ... so knowing it's just one of a number of smallish objects beyond Neptune made a kind of "click" in my mind. "Oh yeah... rocky planets ... gas/ice planets... KBOs..."

    • @oldnelson4298
      @oldnelson4298 5 months ago +4

      I really can't understand why people get upset about this. It wasn't arbitrary, it was a scientific reclassification due to improved knowledge about Pluto and other dwarf planets. It doesn't make it less interesting to study. The same year it was reclassified was when the New Horizons probe was launched specifically to study the Pluto system (and other Kuiper Belt objects). New Horizons is a $1 Billion+ mission, so NASA are clearly still interested in Pluto. Science isn't tradition. Scientific thinking is allowing new data to change your understanding.

  • @nomadicoasis9260
    @nomadicoasis9260 5 months ago

    Nicely done.

  • @johnburnside7828
    @johnburnside7828 5 months ago +18

    The fact that Neptune can be "farther out than Pluto" has nothing to do with Neptune itself. It's due to Pluto's erratic orbit.

    • @rtboyce
      @rtboyce 5 months ago

      The orbits of Neptune and Pluto are not unrelated. They're in a 2:3 resonance.

    • @ThatWinterRider
      @ThatWinterRider 5 months ago

      Eccentric you mean?... I dont think erratic is a good choice of words.

    • @johnburnside7828
      @johnburnside7828 5 months ago

      @ThatWinterRider I think you're right. I sit corrected.

    • @megamike420
      @megamike420 3 months ago

      ​@ThatWinterRiderIt orbits on a different axis

  • @turnerthemanc
    @turnerthemanc 5 months ago

    What a great piece of work Alex. Bravo

  • @FranciscoRoman-p6d
    @FranciscoRoman-p6d 5 months ago +3

    I am always marveled by Neptune every single time I find it with my little 8" Dobsonian telescope. It is just a tiny, but beautiful blue spot.
    Thank you!

  • @AdamAlbright-u4l
    @AdamAlbright-u4l 3 months ago

    Really neat video. Thanks for the great production. Really fascinating