WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMEONE FALL INTO NEPTUNE

Are you ready for a wild ride? Imagine dropping into one of Neptune's giant earth-sized storms. It may look calm and breathtaking on the surface, but don't be fooled - Neptune is a dangerous and violent place. But who's up for a field trip? Let's explore what treasures are hiding beneath its atmosphere and where you could survive the longest.

In 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft whizzed past Neptune, and five years later, we captured incredible images of this planet 4.3 billion kilometers away from Earth with the Hubble Space Telescope. Although it might look like a fun place to bring your yacht, Neptune's oceans aren't quite the same as the ones here on Earth. About 80 percent of the planet is made up of an icy substance consisting of water, methane, and ammonia.

So, where exactly should we take the plunge? How about that big dark spot over there? Let's not get ahead of ourselves - that dark spot used to be a lot bigger, big enough to contain the entire Earth, in fact. The Great Dark Spot was one of Neptune's most violent storms, and even though it has dissipated, there are still several smaller storms to contend with.

Before we dive in, let's examine what is just outside of Neptune. Like Saturn, Neptune has an intricate ring system, but not nearly as many rings. There are at least five main rings, including strange clumps of dust called arcs. Astronomers hypothesize that it's likely Neptune's moon Galatia and its gravitational disruption causing this bizarre clumping effect. Alongside Galatia, Neptune has 13 other moons. To our left, you'll find its most popular moon, Triton, known for its spectacular ice volcanoes.

Based on Neptune's tumultuous weather, it's probably best that you descend at the northern hemisphere where the winds are tamer. As a gas planet, different parts of Neptune rotate at varying speeds, and depending on your location, your length of day will vary. At the north pole, a day lasts 12 hours, which is a whole six hours shorter than a day on the equator. You gotta work smarter, not harder, as they say.

Unlike Earth, Neptune's atmosphere does not contain any oxygen, so make sure to bring an ample supply to breathe easy. With very little sunlight, the brightest Neptune gets is about the equivalent of a dim twilight here on Earth, so also be sure to pack a light source or some night vision goggles.

Be prepared to brace yourself for wind speeds up to 550 meters per second - that's about five times stronger than the harshest gusts here on Earth and twice as fast as the speed of sound. As you pass through Neptune's exosphere, its outermost atmosphere, your spacesuit will experience freezing cold temperatures as you drift through the methane clouds, and it might reek a little (that was not me).

Like in some places here on Earth, the weather can be a bit unpredictable. As you reach the thermosphere, suddenly the temperature rises to about 477 degrees, and you'll encounter ammonia and hydrogen sulfide clouds. Astronomers agree that this bump in temperature could be a result of the atmosphere's interaction with ions in the planet's magnetic field.

Okay, once you've made it through the blistering heat of the thermosphere, you'll notice an increase in pressure in the stratosphere, and the closer you get to the planet's core, you'll notice things are starting to heat up fast. As you make your way through all of Neptune's 3,000 kilometer thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere, don't worry about smashing into the ground - Neptune doesn't have one per se. It's more of a slushy ice and water layer about 17,500 kilometers deep.

If you were hoping for a spectacular view, well, sorry - the atmosphere here is too dense to see anything. As you finally pass through all the slush, you'll encounter a super hot ocean and possibly some hidden treasures. One of the consequences of the high pressure and temperature on Neptune is that its carbon and hydrogen atoms could separate, forcing isolated carbon atoms to be squeezed into diamond structures. These would likely sink to the planet's core but could be as large as one meter in size. Who knew Neptune had so much bling?

Here in the core, the temperature is piping hot - about 7,000 degrees, which is comparable to the surface of the sun. Realistically, a mere human probably couldn't survive this journey, but maybe a resilient space probe could. Now that we've got our sea legs, maybe we could explore Jupiter next. Think you could handle it?