Neptune may be way out there, but it should still be heating up.
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00:00Neptune is around 30 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun, so it goes without saying
00:08that it's pretty cold. But recently, astronomers who were monitoring the last planet in our solar
00:13system noticed something a bit odd. Neptune's surface temperatures are mysteriously changing.
00:18It takes Neptune around 165 Earth years to travel around the Sun a single time,
00:23meaning the seasons are truly epically long. Right now, it's in the middle of a 40-year
00:27summer. But contrary to what should be happening, Neptune isn't getting hotter. It's actually
00:31getting cooler. Between 2003 and 2018, Neptune's surface temperatures have gone down on average
00:3614.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists aren't sure why the planet is shirking expectations,
00:42but they suspect it likely has to do with atmospheric chemistry, with the researchers
00:46theorizing in their paper, quote, while methane absorbs sunlight and warms the atmosphere,
00:50photochemically produced hydrocarbons, primarily ethane and acetylene, are powerful infrared emitters
00:56that serve to cool the stratosphere.