Planet Neptune celebrates 1st birthday
164.79 Earth years ago Neptune was discovered
that’s one Neptunian year
Neptune is about to celebrate its first birthday. On July 12 it will be exactly one Neptunian year – or 164.79 Earth years – since its discovery on 24 September 24, 1846. About 2.7 billion miles from Earth lies Neptune, the first planet in the solar system to be discovered mathematically.
After the classification of the planet Uranus in the 1780s, astronomers had been perplexed by its strange orbit. Scientists came to the conclusion that either Isaac Newton’s laws were fundamentally flawed or that something else – another planet – was pulling Uranus from its expected orbit. The search for the mystery planet began.
While mathematical predictions had been made over the previous decades, it was not until French mathematician Urbain le Verrier’s theories were tested at the Berlin observatory by Johann Gottfried Galle that the planet was first seen.
After only an hour or so of searching, Neptune was observed for the first time on the night of September 23, 1846. It was found almost exactly where le Verrier had predicted it to be.
Independently, British scientist John Couch Adams also produced similar results, and now he and Verrier are given joint credit for the discovery.
Weather on Neptune? Cloudy with a chance of methane
Neptune’s atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium along with traces of methane. The methane in the atmosphere, in part, accounts for the planet’s blue appearance. The core of Neptune is composed of iron, nickel and silicates, and the temperature may be −218 °C. Neptune is the coldest and cloudiest planet in the solar system.
Winds can reach 1,200 mph, creating storms unimaginable on Earth. Astronomers know so little is because the planet has only been photographed once from close range – on the Voyager 2 mission in 1989. And because its seasons last 40 Earth years, only Neptune’s spring and early summer have been closely documented. Neptune has been called the Ocean Planet.
Neptune – What we know
- Named after Roman god of the sea, it’s the Solar System’s outermost planet
- Cannot be seen from Earth without a telescope or binoculars
- Covered by bright blue methane clouds that whip around the globe at speeds measuring more than 1,200 mph
- Though its diameter is four times that of the Earth’s and it is 17 times as big, it is less dense and doesn’t have a solid surface
- It is, on average, about 2.8 billion miles from the Sun
- The distance between Neptune and the Sun varies by 63 million miles depending on where the planet is in its orbit
- Its atmosphere is made up of 80% hydrogen, 19% helium and traces of methane
- There are 13 known moons which orbit Neptune, the largest of which is Triton.
The Ocean Planet named after the Roman God of the Sea
The writers, contributors and editorial staff at MadMikesAmerica firmly believe that a 5.4 billion mile round-trip to Neptune is a long way to go for a long weekend.
Uh, Anonymous, Neptune was a Roman god. They spoke latin.
Neptune is not Roman God but a Greek one. Neptune is the latin name of Poseidon
Thanks for stopping by Anonymous.
Actually, the name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune.