NEPTUNE

“The Other Blue Planet”

NEPTUNE

• Neptune is one of the four gas giants in our Solar System, as well as being one of the four Jovian planets.

• As a gas giant, Neptune has no solid surface, so even if a spaceship could reach it, it could not land because it would simply keep sinking into the planet.

• Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye and was therefore not discovered until 1846.

• Although Neptune is a gas giant, it is actually in a subclass of gas giants known as ice giants. It has a higher percentage of “ices” in its atmosphere.

Facts about NEPTUNE

• History of Neptune• Characteristics of Neptune• Position and Movement of Neptune• Neptune’s Moon and Rings• Exploration on Neptune

History of NEPTUNE

Who discovered NEPTUNE?

Britain’s John Couch Adams France’s Urbain Le Verrier

• Britain’s John Couch Adams and France’s Urbain Le Verrier were worked out the position of the hypothetical 8th planet independently from each other. And both had a difficult time convincing their colleagues to spend any time actually looking where they suggested the planet might be.

Who discovered NEPTUNE?

Who discovered NEPTUNE?

Johann Gottfried GalleJohann Gottfried Galle

The Berlin Observatory astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle used the calculations by Le Verrier to find Neptune within just 1° of its predicted location, and just 12° of Adams’ predictions. 

How did NEPTUNE get its name?

• It was named after the Roman god in Roman mythology, Neptune which is the god of sea.

• Known as Poseidon in Greek mythology.

How did NEPTUNE get its name?

• Shortly after its discovery, Neptune was only referred to as “the planet exterior to Uranus” or as “Le Verrier’s planet”.

• The first suggestion for a name came from Johann Galle, who proposed the name Janus.

• Another proposal was Oceanus.• Urbain Le Verrier, who discovered the planet,

claimed the right to name his discovery: Neptune.

Symbol of NEPTUNE

The symbol for Neptune is a trident, or three-pronged fork.This is a weapon associated with the Roman god Neptune, and theGreek god Poseidon.

Facts about NEPTUNE

• History of Neptune• Characteristics of Neptune• Position and Movement of Neptune• Neptune’s Moon and Rings• Exploration on Neptune

Characteristics of NEPTUNE

How big NEPTUNE is?

• It has a diameter of 49,500 km, & a polar radius of 24,341 km.

• Neptune is 3.9 times bigger than the Earth.

What is NEPTUNE made of?

Upper Atmosphere

This image shows bands of sunlit cirrus-like clouds in Neptune's northern hemisphere. These clouds cast shadows on the blue cloud deck 35 miles below. The white streaky clouds are from 48 to 160 kilometers (30 to 100 miles) wide and extend for thousands of miles.

NEPTUNE’s Atmosphere

80 % - Hydrogen19 % - Helium1 % - Methane

The Methane makes the blue color of Neptune.

NEPTUNE’s Mantle

It is a superheated liquid region where temperatures can reach 2,000 K to 5,000 K.

It consists of water, ammonia, methane, and other compounds.

NEPTUNE’s Core

The core of Neptune is made of iron, nickel and other silicates that make up about 1.2 times the mass of the Earth.

Gravity on NEPTUNE

The surface gravity of Neptune is 1.14 times the gravity on Earth.

Axis Tilt of NEPTUNE

• The tilt of Neptune’s axis is 28.32 degrees compare that to the Earth’s tilt of 23.5 degrees.

Temperature of NEPTUNE

• At its surface, where the clouds of the planet touch space, the temperature of Neptune can dip down to 55 up to -218⁰C.

• The average temperature of Neptune is -200⁰C.

• The temperature of the core of Neptune is 7000⁰C.

Climate of NEPTUNE

• Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune has an internal heat source which radiates more energy than the energy Neptune is receiving from the sun.

• This causes surface winds to reach extremely high speeds.

• Many of the winds interfere with one another causing small storms or large storms Great Dark Spot

NEPTUNE’s Great Dark Spot

• It is very dark and about 1/3 the size of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

• It moves west and the winds around it can be measured blowing up to 2,400 km/hr, the fastest winds in the solar system.

Facts about NEPTUNE

• History of Neptune• Characteristics of Neptune• Position and Movement of Neptune• Neptune’s Moon and Rings• Exploration on Neptune

Position and Movement of NEPTUNE

How Long is a Day on NEPTUNE?

• A day on Neptune is 16 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds.

• Neptune’s equatorial zone takes about 18 hours to complete a rotation.

• And the polar regions can take just 12 hours to rotate; much more quickly than the average.Differential Rotation

How far is NEPTUNE from Earth? Sun?

• Neptune is approximately 4.4 billion km away from the Earth.

• Neptune’s distance from the Sun is 4.5 billion km; more specifically, it’s 4,503,443,661 km.

NEPTUNE’s Orbit

• Neptune follows an elliptical path around the Sun, varying its distance to the Sun at different points along its orbit.

How Long is a Year on NEPTUNE?

• A year on Neptune is 60,190 days or 164.79 years.

Facts about NEPTUNE

• History of Neptune• Characteristics of Neptune• Position and Movement of Neptune• Neptune’s Moons and Rings• Exploration on Neptune

NEPTUNE’s Moons & Rings

NEPTUNE’s Moons

• Neptune has 13 discovered moons!

TritonDiscovery Date : 1846Discoverer : William LassellDiameter : 2,707 km.Distance from Neptune : 354,800 km.Orbit Length : 5 days, 21 hrs

It is the largest moon of planet Neptune.

Nereid

Discovery Date : 1949Discoverer : Gerard KuiperDiameter : 340 km.Distance from Neptune : 5,513,400 km.Orbit Length : 360 days,3 hrs

Naiad

Discovery Date : 1989Discoverer : Voyager 2Diameter : 67 km.Distance from Neptune : 48,277 km.Orbit Length : 6 hrs, 57 mins.

Thalassa

Discovery Date : 1989Discoverer : Voyager 2Diameter : 83 km.Distance from Neptune : 50,075 km.Orbit Length : 7 hrs, 28 mins.

Despina

Discovery Date : 1989Discoverer : Voyager 2Diameter : 152 km.Distance from Neptune : 52,526 km.Orbit Length : 8 hrs, 2 mins.

Galatea

Discovery Date : 1989Discoverer : Voyager 2Diameter : 175 km.Distance from Neptune : 61,953 km.Orbit Length : 10 hrs, 18 mins.

Discovery Date : 1989Discoverer : Voyager 2Diameter : 195 km.Distance from Neptune : 73,548 km.Orbit Length : 13 hrs, 19 mins.

Larissa

Discovery Date : 1989Discoverer : Voyager 2Diameter : 418 km.Distance from Neptune : 117,647 km.Orbit Length : 1 day, 3 hrs.

Proteus

Other moons of NEPTUNE

• Halimede - 1,880 days

• Psamathe – 9, 116 days

• Sao - 2,914 days

• Laomedeia - 3,168 days

• Neso - 9,374 days

Discovery Date : 2002Discoverer : Matthew J, Holman, John J.

NEPTUNE’s Rings

NEPTUNE’s RingsRing Names Distance

(km)(measured from the planet center to the

start of the ring).

Width(km)

Albedo("the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that

received by it" (dictionary.com))

1989 N3R Galle 41, 900 15 km Low

1989 N2R Leverrier 53, 200 15 km Low

Lassell 55, 400 ? Low

Arago 57, 600 ? Low

NEPTUNE’s Rings1989 NIR Adams 57, 600 -km No Information

Available

Liberte ("Equidistant" Adams arc)

62, 930 <50 km Low

Egalite ("Equidistant" Adams arc)

62, 900 -km No Information Available

Fraternite ("Following" Adams arc)

62, 900 No Information Available

No Information Available

Courage (arc) 62, 900 -km No Information Available

Exploration on Neptune

Voyager 2

Voyager 2

• The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a 722 kg (1,590 lb) space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. It was actually launched before Voyager 1, but Voyager 1 moved faster and eventually passed it. It has been operating for 35 years, 6 months and 16 days as of 5 March 2013, the spacecraft still receives and transmits data via the Deep Space Network.[2] At a distance of 100.675 AU (1.51×1010 km; 9.36×109 mi) as of November 2012, it is one of the most distant manmade objects

Voyager 2

• Voyager 2 is part of the Voyager program with its identical sister craft Voyager 1, and is in extended mission, tasked with locating and studying the boundaries of the Solar System, including the Kuiper belt, the heliosphere and interstellar space. The primary mission ended December 31, 1989 after encountering the Jovian system in 1979, Saturnian system in 1980, Uranian system in 1986, and the Neptunian system in 1989. It is still the only spacecraft to have visited the two outer gas giant planets Uranus and Neptune.

Voyager 2

• Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Voyager 2 sent images to earth from radio on Neptune. It radioed the planet data, its moons, the atmosphere, the interior, and the magnetic environment surrounding Uranus. Voyager 1 and voyager 2 will both continue to study sorces like ultraviolet among tge stars for aproxomitley the next 20 years.

Voyager 2

• The winds speed goes up to 2,100 km/m. Voyager 100 has examined complete rings around it, plus additionalpartial ring “arcs” around the planet. While examining Neptune's' well known moons, Voyager 2 also discovered five more moons. One of them is Proteus, proved to be the largest moon in the system.

Vielen Danke,

Freund!

References• http://www.universetoday.com/21581/neptune/• http://nineplanets.org/neptune.html• http://www.solarviews.com/eng/neptune.htm• http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/

photos/neptune/#/neptune_1114_600x450.jpg• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/interesting-facts-

about-neptune.html• https://sites.google.com/site/mvmneptunemvm/

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