Neptune - True Color of Clouds

This image of Neptune was taken by Voyager 2's wide-angle camera when the spacecraft was 590,000 km (370,000 miles) from the planet. The image has been processed to obtain true color balance. Additional processing was used to suppress surface brightness of the white clouds. The processing allows both the clouds' structure in the dark regions near the pole and the bright clouds east of the Great Dark Spot to be reproduced in this color photograph. Small trails of similar clouds trending east to west and large scale structure east of the Great Dark Spot all suggest that waves are present in the atmosphere and play a large role in the type of clouds that are visible. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.