Interesting Neptune facts

The discovery and even the naming of the planet Neptune have a very interesting story behind it. These are probably the Neptune facts that you werent aware of before. Technically speaking, the

very first one who became aware of the planet Neptunes existence is the famed ancient astronomer Galileo. But the discovery of Neptune isnt credited to him because he misrepresented it in his findings; instead of a planet he labeled Neptune as being a star. The actual discovery of

Neptune wasnt done in the usual means that you might be thinking of; with the use of star charts and a telescope. The discovery of Neptune was actually predicted using mathematical formulas. In 1846, a French mathematician named Urbain Le Verriere calculated that in a specific area in outer space, a new planet is highly likely to be discovered. So he got the services of Johann Gottfried Galle of the Berlin Observatory to search in the area he pointed to, and sure enough there was the planet Neptune. After the discovery of the new planet there was quite a stir as to what name this new planet should be. Numerous names began flooding the astronomical society, names like Janus, Oceanus, and others. Le Verriere was actually the one that first suggested that this new planet be named Neptune, but he changed his mind after a couple of months and tried to name the planet after himself. Obviously this came against a lot of contention in the scientific community, after

much debate it was decided upon that from here on in the new planet will be named Neptune, after the Roman god of the sea, it also fits in well with the names of the other planets in the solar system, all of which, except for Earth, is named from ancient Roman deities. Here are some more interesting Neptune facts that you should know: 1. Because Pluto has been relegated into being just a planetoid and not actually a planet, Neptune has become the planet that is farthest from the sun. 2. Ever since it was discovered in the year 1846, Neptune has yet to complete one full orbit around the sun. Because of its extremely large solar orbit, it takes about 167 earth years before one year in Neptune is said to pass. 3. Even though the year in Neptune is longer, the days are extremely shorter than they are here on earth. For Neptune to fully rotate about its axis, it only takes about 16 hours, as compared to the 24 hours it takes for Earth. 4. Neptune has almost the same gravitational pull as Earth. You will only weigh about 17 percent more on Neptune than you would here on Earth, which is really a negligible amount if you think about it. 5. Neptune is the coldest planet in the solar system. This record was once held by Pluto, but because its not a planet anymore; the distinction of coldest planet now goes to Neptune. How cold is it on Neptune? Its so cold that it would make the South Pole look like the Caribbean in comparison. These are just some of the fun Neptune facts that you might not have known until now. If you want to learn more about Neptune and the other planets as well you can visit one of the numerous websites online that are about the solar system.

Planet Neptune What Makes This Planet Interesting?

There are a lot of things that are interesting about the eight planets in our solar system, Neptune. Here are some of them: Fact No. 1 Neptune is now the farthest planet in the solar system You may have first thought that the planet Pluto is farthest planet, that was before Pluto was stripped off of its planet status and is now considered as a planetoid. This decision made the planet Neptune the farthest planet from the sun by default. And being the farthest planet, Neptune also got the title of coldest planet. With temperatures reaching -2000 degrees Celsius, the planet Neptune makes the South Pole a great summer vacation spot. Fact No. 2 Galileo was the first to spot Neptune Famous ancient astronomer and father of modern astronomy Galileo Galilee was I fact the first person to ever discover the planet Neptune. But why is it that the discovery isn't credited to Galileo? Well what happened was that Galileo did spot planet Neptune as he was mapping the heavens, but he thought that it was only a star and so labeled it as such in his charts. Due to his blunder at misrepresenting the planet Neptune, Galileo was never recognized as the true discoverer of the planet. Fact No. 3 The planet Neptune has the longest orbit among all the planets

Even before Pluto was declared as just a planetoid, Neptune already had the biggest orbit in the solar system, because there are certain areas along its path around the sun where Neptune's orbit was bigger than that of Pluto's. In fact, the orbit of Neptune is so large that since its discovery in 1846, Neptune still has not finished one complete orbit around the sun. It takes approximately 165 years here on earth before a single year in Neptune shall pass. Fact No. 4 Neptune was discovered using math You must have thought that astronomy is done using high-powered telescopes and star charts, but math also plays a critical role in astronomy. It was French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier who first came up with the mathematical findings that there will be a new planet in the area in space that Neptune now occupies. After he has made this conclusion he asked for the help of astronomer John Gottfried Galle, Galle, using a high powered telescope scanned the area in the sky where Le Verrier's computations pointed to, and sure enough the planet Neptune was there. The even more astounding fact about Neptune's discovery is that the computations of Le Verrier regarding the location of Neptune are only off by one degree. Fact No. 5 Neptune has its own Great spot You have probably heard about Jupiters great spot; a violent storm that has been occurring on Jupiter's surface, but did you know that Neptune also has its own great spot. Neptune's great spot is not as big as that of Jupiter's but it is still visible. There was a time when the spot on Neptune was not visible to astronomers, so they thought that the storm has dissipated, but it resurfaced again later, but this time on the other side of the planet. These are just some of the facts that make the planet Neptune very interesting.

Strange Behavior from Jupiter and Neptune

If youre an astronomy buff then youd be highly interested in whats going on in the skies right now. Astronomers have found out that the planets Jupiter and Neptune are showing strange behavior that has not happened in a couple of decades. It is quite typical for the planets Jupiter and Neptune to pair off every 12 or 13 years, but for them to conjunct each other three times happen very rarely. For a triple conjunction to happen, the two planets must arrive at the point in space that is opposite the sun, called the opposition, at almost exactly the same time. This year, Jupiter will come at opposition on August 14, while Neptune will get there by August 17, and for several months before and after, these two planets will move in a reverse motion to the surrounding stars, this movement is whats called retrograde motion. During the retrograde motion the planets Jupiter and Neptune will pass each other in opposition not just one time, but about three times total. The last time this phenomenon of triple conjunction happened was in 1971, then next time is estimated to happen in between 2047 and 48. If youre a novice astronomy buff who has still not seen the farthest planet in the solar system, this is your chance to do so. Being the farthest planet from the sun (Pluto was stripped off of its planet status and just relegated into a planetoid in 2006), Neptune is probably the hardest planet to spot because it is not really all that visible, you can only see a faint glimmer of it in a completely dark night. Because of these pairings it will be much easier to spot where the planet Neptune is. By using Jupiter as your guide, train your binoculars, telescope or any

kind of viewing apparatus you have on it, youll be able to see a faint, rather bluish star right above it, that star is actually the planet Neptune. Keep your eyes peeled because spotting it can be rather difficult because Neptune wont be as bright as Jupiter, in fact it will only be about 1/13,000th the brightness of Jupiter, so youll really need to have a strong telescope to even see a speck of it. This strange behavior of Jupiter and Neptune also carries a couple of different meanings in astrology as well. It is said that during this triple conjunction period there is a huge chance for success in a couple of different professional careers like legal works, travel, journalism, philosophy, and others. So if you are in those fields of work then you are now extremely lucky. And then there are others who say that the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune also brings bad luck, it is said that the last time they were in conjunction was the day that the launch of the space shuttle Columbia ended in tragedy. But the one that is going to happen soon is a triple conjunction, so the outcome may still be up in the air. Whatever reason you have for observing this strange behavior of Jupiter and Neptune, be it for scientific curiosity or for astrological purposes, this phenomenon only happens once every couple of decades so missing it as it happens will be a great loss for you.