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It's big,
it's blue,
and it will tear you apart.
Well, if you happened to drop into one of its
giant, Earth-sized storms.
As calm and breathtaking
as it may appear on the surface,
Neptune is a dangerous and violent place.
So, who's up for a field trip?
This is What If, and here's what would happen
In 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft
whizzed past Neptune.
Five years later, we captured
incredible images of this planet
4.3 billion km (2.7 billion mi) away from Earth
with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Although it might look like a fun place
to bring your yacht,
Neptune's oceans aren't quite the same
as the ones here on Earth.
About 80% of the planet
is made up of an icy substance
consisting of water, methane, and ammonia.
So, where exactly should we take the plunge?
How about that big, dark spot over there?
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
That dark spot used to be a lot bigger.
Big enough to contain the entire Earth, in fact.
'The Great Dark Spot' was one of Neptune's
most violent storms.
Even though it has dissipated,
there are still several
smaller storms to contend with.
Before we dive in,
let's examine what is just outside of Neptune.
Like Saturn,
Neptune has an intricate ring system,
but not nearly as many rings.
There are at least five main rings,
including strange clumps of dust called
Astronomers hypothesize that it's likely
Neptune's moon Galatea
and its gravitational disruption
causing this bizarre clumping effect.
Alongside Galatea,
Neptune has 13 other moons.
To our left,
you'll find its most popular moon, Triton,
known for its spectacular ice volcanoes.
Ooh la la!
Based on Neptune's tumultuous weather,
it's probably best that you descend
at the northern hemisphere
where the winds are tamer.
As a gas planet,
different parts of Neptune
rotate at varying speeds,
and depending on your location,
your length of day will vary.
At the north pole, a day lasts 12 hours,
which is a whole 6 hours shorter
than a day on the equator.
You gotta work smarter, not harder, as they say!
Unlike Earth, Neptune's atmosphere
does not contain any oxygen,
so make sure to bring
an ample supply to breathe easy.
With very little sunlight,
the brightest Neptune gets
is about the equivalent of a dim twilight
here on Earth.
So also be sure to pack a light source
or some night vision goggles.
Be prepared to brace yourself for wind speeds
up to 550 meters per second (0.34 mi/s).
That's about five times stronger than
the harshest gusts here on Earth,
and twice as fast as the speed of sound.
As you pass through Neptune's exosphere,
its outermost atmosphere,
your space suit will experience
freezing cold temperatures
as you drift through methane clouds.
And it might reek a little.
Hey, that was not me!
Like in some places here on Earth,
the weather can be a bit unpredictable.
As you reach the thermosphere,
suddenly the temperature rises
to about 477 °C (890 °F)
and you'll encounter ammonia
and hydrogen sulfide clouds.
Astronomers agree
that this bump in temperature
could be a result of the atmosphere's
interaction with ions
in the planet's magnetic field.
Once you've made it through
the blistering heat of the thermosphere,
you'll notice an increase in pressure
in the stratosphere.
And the closer you get to the planet's core,
you'll notice things are starting to heat up fast.
As you make your way through all of Neptune's
3,000 km (1,864 mi) thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere,
don't worry about smashing into the ground.
Neptune doesn't have one, per se.
It's more of a slushy ice and water layer,
about 17,500 km (10,873 mi) deep.
If you were hoping for a spectacular view,
well, sorry. The atmosphere here is too dense to see anything.
As you finally pass through all the slush,
you'll encounter a superhot ocean
and possibly some hidden treasures.
One of the consequences of the high pressure
and temperature on Neptune
is that its carbon and hydrogen atoms
could separate, forcing isolated carbon atoms
to be squeezed into diamond structures.
These would likely sink to the planet's core,
but could be as large as 1m (3 ft) in size.
Who knew Neptune had so much bling?
Here in the core, the temperature is piping hot.
About 7,000 °C (12,632 °F),
which is comparable to the surface of the Sun.
Realistically, a mere human
probably couldn't survive this journey.
But maybe a resilient space probe could.
Now that we've got our sea legs,
maybe we could explore Jupiter next.
Think you could handle it?
Well, that's a story for another What If.