Which is sort of like The non-existent can affect us all. But even out on … Neptune?
A new paper in the research journal Icarus offers dramatic proof that solar activity can affect planetary weather. The big surprise: The planet is Neptune, 2.5 billion miles from the sun. Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a period of 28 years show bright clouds forming in sync with the 11-year solar cycle: [omitted]
The connection between Neptune and solar activity is surprising to planetary scientists because Neptune is our solar system’s farthest major planet. It receives only 0.1% of the sunlight we get on Earth. Yet Neptune’s cloudy weather seems to be driven by solar activity, and not the planet’s four seasons, which each last approximately 40 years. [Spaceweather.com]
Just imagine a supernova in the local neighborhood – we’d get a dose of radiation and a couple of hurricanes just as an insult.
