As NASA researchers have been taking hot infrared images of Neptune from several labs for nearly 20 years, a new study reveals that the ice giant may be colder than we first thought. Between 2003 and 2018, Neptune unexpectedly dropped by about 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius).

According to the British Daily Mail, Neptune is one of the coldest planets in the Solar System because it is 2.8 billion miles from the Sun, with an average temperature of -373 degrees Fahrenheit (-207 degrees Celsius).

Dr Michael Roman, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Leicester and the lead author of the study, said: ‘This change is unexpected, as we observed Neptune in early summer, expecting temperatures to be warmer and not colder.

The researchers examined thermal infrared images from various observatories, including the European Southern Observatory’s largest telescope, the Gemini South telescope in Chile, the Subaru telescope, the Keck telescope and the Gemini North telescope, all in Hawaii. Spitzer Space Telescope.

Between 2003 and 2018, the temperature of Neptune’s galaxy dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius), the second layer of the atmosphere as you move upwards.

While it takes the Earth 365 days to complete its orbit around the Sun, Neptune takes more than 165 years, meaning that the seasons of the ice giant change very slowly, each lasting more than 40 Earth years.