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Voyager 2 narrow-angle camera
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South up image
Original 474kB tif
This contrast enhanced color picture of Neptune was acquired by Voyager 2 at a range of 14.8 million kilometers
(9.2 million miles) on August 14, 1989. It was produced from images taken through the orange, green and violet
filters of Voyager's narrow angle camera.
As Voyager 2 approaches Neptune, rapidly increasing image resolution is revealing striking new details in the
planet's atmosphere, and this picture shows features as small as a few hundred kilometers in extent.
Bright, wispy "cirrus type" clouds are seen overlying the Great Dark Spot (GDS) at its southern (lower) margin
and over its northwest (upper left) boundary. This is the first evidence that the GDS lies lower in the atmosphere
than these bright clouds, which have remained in its vicinity for several months.
Increasing detail in global banding and in the south polar region can also be seen; a smaller dark spot at high
southern latitudes is dimly visible near the limb at lower left.
The Voyager Mission is conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science and
Applications.
Green - 1507N2-011 Blue - 1513N2-011Red - 1520N2-011
[NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute]
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