This is an image of Neptune and its famous
Great Dark Spot
Click on image for full size
NASA
Discover Neptune
If you had a quiz question in school that asked what year Neptune was
discovered, you'd probably choose 1846. But Neptune wasn't discovered the way all the other planets in our solar system were. Astronomers didn't scan the sky with their telescopes to find Neptune. They used math instead!
After the discovery of Uranus, scientists were having trouble figuring out the planet's orbit. They realized that there must be another planet farther out than Uranus. They were right!
French astronomer Leverrier and English astronomer John Couch Adams made the mathematical calculations of where Neptune should be and German astronomer Johann Galle observed it. Talk about an international effort!
Neptune is the eighth planet in our solar sytem (most of the time, anyway).
All the planets were named after ancient gods. So when it came time to name this one, astronomers chose Neptune. Neptune was the Roman god of the deep seas.
Neptune's largest moon, Triton, was discovered at the same time as the planet. Another satellite, Nereid, wasn't found until 1949. The other six were spotted by Voyager II during its flyby in 1989. A lot of research has been done on Triton, and there is evidence that life may have existed there at one time.
You might also be interested in:
How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.
...more
Neptune was the name that ancient Romans gave to the Greek god of the sea and earthquakes, Poseidon. He was the brother of Jupiter (Zeus) and of Pluto (Hades). After the defeat of their father Saturn (Cronos),
...more
Triton was discovered by W. Lassell in 1846. Of the 8 moons, it is the 2nd farthest from Neptune, with a standoff distance of 354,800 km. Triton may be one of the largest of the icy moons, is comparable
...moreNeptune has // Call the moon count function defined in the document head print_moon_count('neptune'); moons. It also has rings, but its rings are different from Saturn's. Neptune's largest moon is named
...more
The Giant planets do not have the same kind of layers inside that the Earth-like planets do. Their evolution was quite different than that of the Earth-like planets, and they have much more gas and ice
...more
The South Pole of the planet Neptune is a bit strange. Triton, Neptune's largest moon, also has interesting features at its poles. Neptune is tilted on its axis by about 28°. That isn't so strange... Earth
...more
The atmosphere of Neptune is very similar to that of Uranus, and unlike that of Saturn and Jupiter. On Jupiter and Saturn, the atmosphere is mostly composed of the simple molecules hydrogen and helium.
...more
There are four ideas for the origin of a planetary atmosphere. Those four ideas are: 1. that the planet-elements of which a planet was made released the atmosphere, 2. that the atmosphere was drawn to
...more
