It began to make sense to the astronomers. Uranus continued to move in different directions because something had to be in its way; another planet with a gravity pull strong enough to attract it . John C. Adams, a young English mathematician, completed some calculations which would point everyone in the right direction, and that direction was Neptune.
THE ROYAL RESEARCH
Although Adams’s work was ignored by the Astronomer of Royal England at that time, his work was not completely debunked. A year later J.J. Leverrier, a young French man, worked on the project of Neptune and predicted its position. He turned in his research to the Urania Observatory in Berlin, Germany. It was accepted and now both he and Adams are credited with the planet’s discovery. There are some things about Neptune that are fascinating and then some things that are just so mysterious that perhaps no one will ever have the answer.
NEPTUNE’S STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENT
Neptune can now be seen with a telescope from Earth, but what scientists have found with their technology is that Neptune is perhaps “heavier” than Earth. This means Neptune is more massive – at least 17 times more than Earth and it also revolves around the sun in an elliptical fashion, not circular as some planets do.
Neptune is also composed of mainly frozen methane, hydrogen, helium, water and silicates. Although Neptune is farther from the sun than Uranus and receives about 40% of sunlight, temperature rises steadily inside the layers of Neptune’s gases. Its internal energy is hot enough to drive winds as fast as 700 miles per hour.
One cannot speak about Neptune or any other planet without mentioning its satellites. The largest satellite in Neptune’s region is Triton. Every six days, Triton moves around Neptune, but what makes this satellite different than others is that it moves opposite to Neptune’s path.
NEPTUNE’S MYSTERIES
Neptune is named for “the god of the sea”, and its amazing, brilliant blue color gives life to its name. Scientists are still unsure as to why the blue is so bright. Yet, this is not the only mystery of the blue planet.
Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, is believed to have been a comet a long time ago and somehow Neptune captured its attention with its large gravitational pull. Ever since then, they have been circling around and around in space.
Finally, Neptune’s famous Dark Spot, is another mystery and is similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. In 1989 the Voyager 2 Spacecraft discovered this swirling, violent storm but in 1994 this spot vanished, and is thought to have been covered up by cloud layers. There is another spot, the NGDS- the North Great Dark Spot, which has been seen for many years.
Neptune is a planet with a silent story, and apparently great gravitational pull as it has captured its largest satellite. It has already captured many people’s interest and will continue to do so for many years to come.
