Neptune

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Pretty!

Neptune is the eighth furthest planet from the Sun in the Solar system and the fourth largest. Since the "demotion" of Pluto it is the farthest known from the Sun. It is named after the god of water and the seas in Roman mythology (equivalent to Poseidon in the Greek mythology), the brother of Jupiter and Pluto.

Discovered on 23 September 1846, Neptune was the second planet discovered in modern times. Unlike Uranus, its discovery was the result of mathematical prediction rather than chance observation. Unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led astronomers to deduce the gravitational perturbation of an unknown planet. Neptune was found within a degree of the predicted position. Its blue color led to it being given the name of the god of the seas. The moon Triton was found shortly thereafter, but none of the planet's other 12 moons were discovered before the 20th century. Neptune has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2, which flew by the planet on 25 August 1989.

[edit] The Great Dark Spot

Out-of-date books and web sites (including this one, see image top right) might lead you to believe that Neptune has a Great Dark Spot, in the southern hemisphere. Imagery you will see of this huge storm will date back to the close pass of Voyager 2 in 1989. However, later imagery (principally by the Hubble Space Telescope) shows that the storm, first observed at ~22°S, wandered north and then disappeared altogether. Latest data shows a new, smaller dark spot in the Northern hemisphere.

[edit] In music

Neptune the Mystic is the seventh and final movement in "The Planets" by Gustav Holst (Earth was not included, and Pluto had yet to be discovered). A spectacular version of this piece, executed by Isao Tomita on the Moog synthesizer in 1976 can be seen on YouTube here, accompanied by images from Voyager II.

[edit] See also

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support