Neptune

An Ice Giant Matt Drygulski

Overview
The 8th and last planet from the Sun Most is known from Voyager 2 Known for its bluish color Known as the ice giant

First Recorded Sight

Discovered by Galileo in 1613 near Jupiter, but he believed it was a star The cloudy conditions of when he observed Neptune allowed no further research Urbain Joseph Le Verrier and John Couch Adams calculated (separately) where they believed Neptune would be and sent them to many astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis dArrest, two German astronomers, saw Neptune as a planet on September 23, 1846

Official Discovery
Urbain Joseph Le Verrier and John Couch Adams calculated (separately) where they believed Neptune would be and sent them to many astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis dArrest, two German astronomers, saw Neptune as a planet on September 23, 1846

Name
Galle wanted to name the planet for Le Verrier, but other astronomers did not approve The planet was named Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, for its blue color

Statistics
Diameter: 49,528 km Mass: 1.0241 1026 Density: 1.9 g/cm3

Internal Composition
An upper atmosphere (mostly clouds) Atmosphere of hydrogen, helium, methane Mantle of water, ammonia, methane ice Core of unknown rock and ice

Atmosphere
A very thick atmosphere 74% hydrogen 25% Helium 1% Methane The release of methane and another unknown substance causes the blue color of Neptune A large, Earth sized hurricane is going on in Neptune for most likely thousands of years The winds were recorded by Voyager 2 to be at 1,500 mph

Magnetic Field
Tilted 47 degrees from the planets axis 13,500 km from the physical center The field goes through dramatic changes as the plane rotates (due to the tilt of the planet and the field)

Rotation and Revolution

16 hr full rotation The planet is tilted 28.32 degrees 164.8 Earth years for a full revolution Neptunes revolution was observed to go against Newtons laws

Evidence of water
Neptunes mantle is comprised of some water, but mostly vapor Ice is very prevalent, but so frozen it can not be used

Voyager 2
The spacecraft came closest to Neptune in August of 1989 at a distance of 4,950 km It studied Neptune continuously from June to October of that year

Life?
The atmosphere of Neptune is very similar to Earths when life apparently began However, the -270 to -380 degree temperatures are different from an early Earth

Plate Tectonics?
Almost nothing is known about the surface of Neptune With so little evidence, no inferences can be made

Rings
Neptune has a large system of rings composed of rocks and dust The four most prominent rings are: 1. The Adams ring 2. The Le Verrier ring 3. The Galle ring 4. The Plateau ring The rings are uneven, most likely because of the pull of Neptunes rings

Sources
"Solar System Exploration: Planets: Neptune: Overview." Solar System Exploration: Planets: Neptune: Overview. NASA, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Obje ct=Neptune>. "Neptune - EnchantedLearning.com." Neptune EnchantedLearning.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astrono my/planets/neptune/>. "Voyager - Neptune." Voyager - Neptune. NASA, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/neptune.html>.