Photograph Description

Voyager 2 spacecraft grainy, colour image of the planet Neptune, taken during August 1989, when Voyager passed within 5, 000 km of Neptune’s north pole. This false-colour image, obtained using the ultraviolet, violet and green filters of Voyager’s wide-angle camera, highlights details of weather systems, revealing clouds located at different altitudes in different colours. The prominent Great Dark Spot (centre), a giant storm system the size of Earth, appears surrounded by pink, wispy clouds at high altitudes. Areas of dark, deep- lying cloud appear dark blue in this image. (Photo by Science Photo Library)