Neptune from two different perspectives

[neufer]

The Planetary Society Blog By Emily Lakdawalla
Neptune from two slightly different perspectives
Sep. 6, 2010 | 20:39 PDT | Sep. 7 03:39 UTC

Neptune from Hubble, August 28, 2010 Credit: NASA / STScI / Kathy Rages / Gordan Ugarkovic

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<<Coincidentally, two new images of Neptune were posted today, from two very different sources. One came from Earth. It was from the Hubble Space Telescope, our most impressive eye on objects in the sky, in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths anyway. Although Hubble has great eyesight, Neptune is very far away from Earth -- never closer than 29 astronomical units -- so it's a relatively small ball in Hubble photos. Still, the photo is detailed enough to reveal some cloud features.

The new Wide Field Camera 3 on Hubble was employed to photograph Neptune in approximately natural color on August 28, 2010, when the planet was near its opposition. The version on the right has enhanced contrast, revealing a dark ring of clouds around the south pole. Triton would be visible to Hubble if it were in the frame, but it was not in the camera field of view at the time of the observation. The photos have been enlarged to 150% of their original size.>>

[orin stepanek]

Nice find Art! It's great that Hubble can send such clear photos; I hope that the upcoming James Webb does likewise.

[geckzilla]

The article snippet and image are a little confusing. The other photo of Neptune is at the article link. The two side by side Neptunes above are the same photo but one has been adjusted to better make out the details. So the light blue version on the left is the closest thing to what the naked eye might see when looking at Neptune.