Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
SNM Organization

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 15 December 1989:
Vol. 246. no. 4936, pp. 1417 - 1421
DOI: 10.1126/science.246.4936.1417
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

The Voyager 2 Encounter with the Neptunian System

E. C. Stone 1 and E. D. Miner 2

1 Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109

An overview of the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune is presented, including a brief discussion of the trajectory, the planned observations, and highlights of the results described in the 11 companion papers. Neptune's blue atmosphere has storm systems reminiscent of those in Jupiter's atmosphere. An optically thin methane ice cloud exists near the 1.5-bar pressure level, and an optically thick cloud exists below 3 bars. Neptune's magnetic field is highly tilted and offset from the planet's center; it rotates with a period of 16.11 hours. Two narrow and two broad rings circle the planet; the outermost of these rings has three optically thicker arc segments. Six new moons were discovered in circular prograde orbits, all well inside Triton's retrograde orbit. Triton has a highly reflective and geologically young surface, a thin nitrogen atmosphere, and at least two active geyser-like plumes.

Submitted on October 27, 1989
Accepted on November 15, 1989


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Triton's Distorted Atmosphere.
J. L. Elliot, J. A. Stansberry, C. B. Olkin, M. A. Agner, and M. E. Davies (1997)
Science 278, 436-439
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Metal ions in the atmosphere of Neptune.
Lyons JR (1995)
Science 267, 648-651
   Abstract »    PDF »
Ices on the Surface of Triton.
D. P. Cruikshank, D. P. Cruikshank, T. L. Roush, T. C. Owen, T. R. Geballe, C. de Bergh, B. Schmitt, R. H. Brown, and M. J. Bartholomew (1993)
Science 261, 742-745
   Abstract »    PDF »
Triton's Geyser-Like Plumes: Discovery and Basic Characterization.
L. A. Soderblom, L. A. Soderblom, S. W. Kieffer, T. L. Becker, R. H. Brown, A. F. Cook II, C. J. Hansen, T. V. Johnson, R. L. Kirk, and E. M. Shoemaker (1990)
Science 250, 410-415
   Abstract »    PDF »
Hot Plasma and Energetic Particles in Neptune's Magnetosphere.
S. M. Krimigis, T. P. Armstrong, W. I. Axford, C. O. Bostrom, A. F. Cheng, G. Gloeckler, D. C. Hamilton, E. P. Keath, L. J. Lanzerotti, B. H. Mauk, et al. (1989)
Science 246, 1483-1489
   Abstract »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)