Neptune By: Madison and Breanna

History The planet’s name is Neptune. Neptune was predicted by mathematical calculations and first observed on Sept 23,1846 by Johann Galle, Urbain Le Verrier, and John Couch Adams. On August 25,1989,the Voyager 2 flew past Neptune. Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea.

Discovery Neptune was discovered on September 23, 1846. Johann Galle discovered Neptune by mathematical calculations of Urbain le Verrier.

Planet Structure On the inside of Neptune, it is believed that clouds with ammonia and hydrogen would be seen if you visited the inside of Neptune. Neptune’s atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, along with traces of hydrocarbons and possibly nitrogen, contains a higher proportion of “ices” such as water ammonia and methane. Neptune’s surface is primarily composed of ice and rock. Methane surrounding the planet gives it the blue hue.

Atmosphere Neptune’s atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Neptune has methane in its atmosphere (blue green methane) Neptune atmosphere consists of 74% hydrogen, 25% helium and about 1% methane

Motion 164 Earth years 60,152 earth days The length of a day, or sidereal period, on Neptune is 16.11 hours 6 min. 13 seconds (0.6713 days)

Missions Voyager August, 1989 Voyager 2 observed bright cirrus-like cloud cover in the region around The Great Dark Spot. The rapid changes in the clouds over 18 hours prove that Neptune’s weather is perhaps as dynamic as Earth’s. Neptune’s dark spot is no longer visible. Could this storm finally have ended?

Data Diameter- 49,528 km Average distance from the Sun- 4.5 billion km Mass- 10,240 x 10 kg Surface Gravity (Earth = 1)- 1.12 Average Temperature- -225 degrees Celsius Number of observed moons-8*

Interesting facts Did you know? Neptune was named after the god of the sea, probably because of its blue color. Neptune gives off more heat then it receives from the sun. this means it probably has its own heat source.

Bibliography http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=imh&an=imh215384&site=srck5-live http://www.answers.com/ http://wiki.answers.com/ http://wiki.answer.com/ http://wiki.answers.com STC/MS Earth In Space Pg.243 STC/MS Earth In Space Pg.238