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Science 15 December 1989:
Vol. 246. no. 4936, pp. 1422 - 1449
DOI: 10.1126/science.246.4936.1422
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Articles

Voyager 2 at Neptune: Imaging Science Results

B. A. Smith 1, L. A. Soderblom 2, D. Banfield 3, c. Barnet 4, A. T. Basilevsky 5, R. F. Beebe 4, K. Bollinger 6, J. M. Boyce 7, A. Brahic 8, G. A. Briggs 7, R. H. Brown 6, c. Chyba 9, s. A. Collins 6, T. Colvin 10, A. F. Cook II 11, D. Crisp 6, S. K. Croft 1, D. Cruikshank 12, J. N. Cuzzi 12, G. E. Danielson 3, M. E. Davies 13, E. De Jong 3, L. Dones 14, D. Godfrey 15, J. Goguen 6, I. Grenier 8, V. R. Haemmerle 1, H. Hammel 6, c. J. Hansen 6, c. P. Helfenstein 9, C. Howell 9, G. E. Hunt 16, A. P. Ingersoll 3, T. V. Johnson 6, J. Kargel 1, R. Kirk 2, D. I. Kuehn 4, S. Limaye 17, H. Masursky 2, A. McEwen 2, D. Morrison 12, T. Owen 18, W. Owen 6, J. B. Pollack 12, c. c. Porco 1, K. Rages 19, P. Rogers 13, D. Rudy 6, C. Sagan 9, J. Schwartz 3, E. M. Shoemaker 2, M. Showalter 20, B. Sicardy 8, D. Simonelli 9, J. Spencer 21, L. A. Sromovsky 17, C. Stoker 12, R. G. Strom 1, V. E. Suomi 17, S. P. Synott 6, R. J. Terrile 6, P. Thomas 9, W. R. Thompson 9, A. Verbiscer 9, and J. Veverka 9

1 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
2 U.S. G.S., Flagstaff, AZ 86001
3 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
4 New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003
5 Vernadsky Institute for Cosmochemistry, USSR Academy of Science, Moscow
6 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109
7 NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546
8 Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, Paris, France
9 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
10 Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90406
11 Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138
12 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035
13 Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90406
14 University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada
15 National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson, AZ 85726
16 Logica International, Ltd., 64 Neisman Street, London, England W1A 4SE
17 University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
18 State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794
19 Mycol, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA 94087
20 Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
21 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 95822

Voyager 2 images of Neptune reveal a windy planet characterized by bright clouds of methane ice suspended in an exceptionally clear atmosphere above a lower deck of hydrogen sulfide or ammonia ices. Neptune's atmosphere is dominated by a large anticyclonic storm system that has been named the Great Dark Spot (GDS). About the same size as Earth in extent, the GDS bears both many similarities and some differences to the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. Neptune's zonal wind profile is remarkably similar to that of Uranus. Neptune has three major rings at radii of 42,000, 53,000, and 63,000 kilometers. The outer ring contains three higher density arc-like segments that were apparently responsible for most of the ground-based occultation events observed during the current decade. Like the rings of Uranus, the Neptune rings are composed of very dark material; unlike that of Uranus, the Neptune system is very dusty. Six new regular satellites were found, with dark surfaces and radii ranging from 200 to 25 kilometers. All lie inside the orbit of Triton and the inner four are located within the ring system. Triton is seen to be a differentiated body, with a radius of 1350 kilometers and a density of 2.1 grams per cubic centimeter; it exhibits clear evidence of early episodes of surface melting. A now rigid crust of what is probably water ice is overlain with a brilliant coating of nitrogen frost, slightly darkened and reddened with organic polymer material. Streaks of organic polymer suggest seasonal winds strong enough to move particles of micrometer size or larger, once they become airborne. At least two active plumes were seen, carrying dark material 8 kilometers above the surface before being transported downstream by high level winds. The plumes may be driven by solar heating and the subsequent violent vaporization of subsurface nitrogen.

Submitted on November 6, 1989
Accepted on November 15, 1989


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