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FOR RELEASE: May 15, 2003

CONTACT: Ray Villard
         Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
         (Phone: 410/338-4514; E-mail: villard{at}stsci.edu)

         Terry Devitt
         University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
         (Phone: 608/262-8282; E-mail: trdevitt{at}facstaff.wisc.edu)

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR03-17


BRIGHTER NEPTUNE SUGGESTS A PLANETARY CHANGE OF SEASONS

Springtime is blooming on Neptune! This might sound like an oxymoron
because Neptune is the farthest and coldest of the major planets. But
NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations are revealing an increase in
Neptune's brightness in the southern hemisphere. Astronomers consider
this increase a harbinger of seasonal change. The observations, made
over six years, show a distinct increase in the amount and brightness
of the clouds encircling the planet's southern hemisphere.

To see and read more about Neptune, please click on
http://hubblesite.org/news/2003/17

-end-

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of
international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency
(ESA).

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