solar energy deposition into its atmosphere by a factor of 2.5 (17). The periodicity of albedo variations appears to provide an input to global planetary weather systems on a short time scale relative to Neptune's 164-year period of revolution around the sun. Neptune's orbit is almost perfectly circular, so its changing distance from the sun caused only an insignificant 0.5% decrease in total insolation since 1972. What appears remarkable is the extraordinary sensitivity of Neptune's atmosphere to the modulation of the solar output.
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