Neptune and Uranus seen in true colours for first time - BBC News

Analysis shows that our ideas of the colours of the planets Neptune and Uranus have been wrong.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Pallab GhoshScience correspondentOur ideas of the colours of the planets Neptune and Uranus have been wrong, research led by UK astronomers reveals.

Images from a space mission in the 1980s showed Neptune to be a rich blue and Uranus green.

But a study has discovered that the two ice giant planets are both similar shades of greenish blue.

It has emerged that the earlier images of Neptune had been enhanced to show details of the planet's atmosphere, which altered its true colour.

"They did something that I think everyone on Instagram will have done at some time in their life, they tweaked the colours," Prof Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and a University of Edinburgh astrophysics professor, told BBC Radio 4's Today.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67892275?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

---