Neptune Completes Its First Orbit
A Trojan Asteroid was discovered in 2010, the seventh known to be following Neptune. This image of Neptune is available due to Voyager 2's 1989 flyby of the planet. (NASA) Today, July 12, is Neptune's first birthday in Neptunian years, equivalent to 164.79 Earth years, marking the planet's first complete orbit around the sun since its existence was confirmed on 23 September, 1846.
Yet very little is known about this long-acknowledged blue world.
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the sun, and is 2.7 billion miles (4.4 billion kilometers) away from Earth.
In the 1780s, scientists realized the strange orbit of the planet Uranus did not comply with Isaac Newtons laws, leading them to ponder whether another celestial body might be responsible.
Multiple mathematical predictions and many decades later, French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier reported his hypothesis in the journal Comptes Rendus, and Neptune was subsequently spotted by astronomers in Berlin. It only took about an hour to find, matching Le Verrier's prediction almost exactly.
British scientist John Couch Adams independently reached a very similar prediction at that time, and is therefore also given credit for Neptunes discovery.
There is evidence that Galileo, famous astronomer and mathematician, had already documented Neptune's existence about 200 years prior.
If you look at the drawings for January 1613 includes an object labelled as 'fixed star,' which is the first telescopic drawing of the planet Neptune, Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society told the BBC, referring to Galileos famous work, The Starry Messenger."
Today, still relatively little is known about Neptune, largely due its great distance from Earthit was impossible to see with the naked eye until the H! ubble Sp ace Telescope launched in 1990. From known data, Neptune is extremely inhospitable, composed primarily of ice and rock.
"Cloudy with a chance of methane" is the general weather forecast, says planetary scientist Heidi Hammel of the Association of the Universities of Research in Astronomy (Aura), according to the BBC. And winds that go up to 1,930 kilometers (1,200 miles) per hour facilitate extremely active storms, visible as dark spots from afar.
Another reason why astronomers knowledge of Neptune is so incomplete is that only one close-range photo has been taken when Voyager 2 passed by in 1989. Since 40 Earth years equate to one season on Neptune, only spring and early summer on the planet have been closely documented.
Every time we go to a telescope and look at this planet, its doing something new, its doing something we hadnt thought of before, Hammel told the BBC.
Yet very little is known about this long-acknowledged blue world.
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the sun, and is 2.7 billion miles (4.4 billion kilometers) away from Earth.
In the 1780s, scientists realized the strange orbit of the planet Uranus did not comply with Isaac Newtons laws, leading them to ponder whether another celestial body might be responsible.
Multiple mathematical predictions and many decades later, French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier reported his hypothesis in the journal Comptes Rendus, and Neptune was subsequently spotted by astronomers in Berlin. It only took about an hour to find, matching Le Verrier's prediction almost exactly.
British scientist John Couch Adams independently reached a very similar prediction at that time, and is therefore also given credit for Neptunes discovery.
There is evidence that Galileo, famous astronomer and mathematician, had already documented Neptune's existence about 200 years prior.
If you look at the drawings for January 1613 includes an object labelled as 'fixed star,' which is the first telescopic drawing of the planet Neptune, Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society told the BBC, referring to Galileos famous work, The Starry Messenger."
Today, still relatively little is known about Neptune, largely due its great distance from Earthit was impossible to see with the naked eye until the H! ubble Sp ace Telescope launched in 1990. From known data, Neptune is extremely inhospitable, composed primarily of ice and rock.
"Cloudy with a chance of methane" is the general weather forecast, says planetary scientist Heidi Hammel of the Association of the Universities of Research in Astronomy (Aura), according to the BBC. And winds that go up to 1,930 kilometers (1,200 miles) per hour facilitate extremely active storms, visible as dark spots from afar.
Another reason why astronomers knowledge of Neptune is so incomplete is that only one close-range photo has been taken when Voyager 2 passed by in 1989. Since 40 Earth years equate to one season on Neptune, only spring and early summer on the planet have been closely documented.
Every time we go to a telescope and look at this planet, its doing something new, its doing something we hadnt thought of before, Hammel told the BBC.
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Any chance for us to find out more about this unfriendly planet?
Probably not for nowNASA missions for Neptune research are currently postponed owing to a limited budget. The Neptune Orbiter mission was featured on NASAs proposed list, planned to launch circa 2016, but has now been removed.More Interesting Facts About Neptune:
- Cassini Sees Huge Thunderstorm on Saturn
Any chance for us to find out more about this unfriendly planet?
Probably not for nowNASA missions for Neptune research are currently postponed owing to a limited budget. The Neptune Orbiter mission was featured on NASAs proposed list, planned to launch circa 2016, but has now been removed.
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