Changes on Neptune Link Sun and Global Warming
Skeptics of manmade global warming have found further
support in research linking solar output with the
planet Neptune's brightness and temperatures on Earth.
The findings appeared in a recent issue of Geophysical
Research Letters. The authors of the article, H.B.
Hammel and G.W. Lockwood from the Space Science
Institute in Colorado and the Lowell Observatory in
Arizona, note that measurements of visible light from
Neptune have been taken at the Observatory since 1950.
Those measurements indicate that Neptune has been
getting brighter since around 1980. And infrared
measurements of the planet since 1980 show that
Neptune has been warming steadily as well.
The researchers plotted on a graph the changes in
visible light from Neptune over the past half-century,
changes in temperatures on Earth during that period,
and changes in total solar irradiance.
The results: The correlation between solar irradiance
and Neptune's brightness was nearly perfect; so was
the correlation between changes on Earth and solar
output, according to a report on the research
appearing on World Climate Report, a climate change
blog.
"When the sun is more energetic and putting out more
energy, the Earth tends to warm up, and when the sun
cools down, so does the Earth," World Climate Report
notes. "The Hammel and Lockwood article reveals that
the same is true out at Neptune - when the sun's
energy increases, Neptune seems to warm up and get
brighter . . .
"How is it possible that the Earth's temperature is so
highly correlated with brightness variations from
Neptune? The news from Neptune comes to us just weeks
after an article was published showing that Mars has
warmed recently as well.
"If nothing else, we have certainly learned recently
that planets undergo changes in their mean
temperature, and while we can easily blame human
activity here on the Earth, blaming humans for the
recent warming on Mars and Neptune would be an
astronomical stretch, to say the least."
Skeptics of manmade global warming have found further
support in research linking solar output with the
planet Neptune's brightness and temperatures on Earth.
The findings appeared in a recent issue of Geophysical
Research Letters. The authors of the article, H.B.
Hammel and G.W. Lockwood from the Space Science
Institute in Colorado and the Lowell Observatory in
Arizona, note that measurements of visible light from
Neptune have been taken at the Observatory since 1950.
Those measurements indicate that Neptune has been
getting brighter since around 1980. And infrared
measurements of the planet since 1980 show that
Neptune has been warming steadily as well.
The researchers plotted on a graph the changes in
visible light from Neptune over the past half-century,
changes in temperatures on Earth during that period,
and changes in total solar irradiance.
The results: The correlation between solar irradiance
and Neptune's brightness was nearly perfect; so was
the correlation between changes on Earth and solar
output, according to a report on the research
appearing on World Climate Report, a climate change
blog.
"When the sun is more energetic and putting out more
energy, the Earth tends to warm up, and when the sun
cools down, so does the Earth," World Climate Report
notes. "The Hammel and Lockwood article reveals that
the same is true out at Neptune - when the sun's
energy increases, Neptune seems to warm up and get
brighter . . .
"How is it possible that the Earth's temperature is so
highly correlated with brightness variations from
Neptune? The news from Neptune comes to us just weeks
after an article was published showing that Mars has
warmed recently as well.
"If nothing else, we have certainly learned recently
that planets undergo changes in their mean
temperature, and while we can easily blame human
activity here on the Earth, blaming humans for the
recent warming on Mars and Neptune would be an
astronomical stretch, to say the least."
