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The Discovery of Neptune
The Discovery of Neptune
Neptune's existence was theorized by many astronomers before its confirmation in 1846, most notably Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams, and Johann Gottfried Galle. It was Galle who confirmed the planet and Le Verrier proposed the name we now associate with it today. Galileo Galilei also documented Neptune twice but mistook the planet for a star in 1613, making him technically the first to discover the celestial body.
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Galileo Galilei was the first person to observe Neptune on December 28th 1612, although he mistook it for a star.
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Urbain Le Verrier predicted the existence and position of Neptune by only using mathematics
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John Couch Adams simultaneously proposed another mathematics theory, although it was less accurate than Le Verrier
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Johann Gottfried Galle was the first person to see and accurately identify Neptune as a planet with the help of Le Verrier.
Origin of Neptune's Name
Origin of Neptune's Name
Originally named "Le Verrier" by François Aragoand changed to the neutral name of Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea. After Neptune 19th-century astronomers continued the tradition of naming local planets after Greek gods.
Formation of Neptune
Formation of Neptune
Neptune was formed close to the sun due to the combination of swirling gas and dust, but It was later pulled out farther into the solar system. The planet formed about 4.5 billion years ago around the same time as the rest of the modern solar system.
TIMELINE
TIMELINE
1612: Galileo incorrectly records Neptune as a fixed star during observations with his small telescope.
1846: Using mathematical calculations, astronomers discover Neptune, increasing the number of known planets to eight. Neptune's largest moon, Triton, is found the same year.
1983: Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Neptune and becomes the first human-made object to travel beyond the orbits of the planets of our solar system. The spacecraft remains on a trajectory heading towards the red star Aldebaran (in the constellation Taurus) and is expected to pass by it in about 2,000,000 years.
1984: Astronomers find evidence for the existence of a ring system around Neptune.
1989: Voyager 2 becomes the first and only spacecraft to visit Neptune, passing about 4,800 kilometers (2,983 miles) above the planet's north pole.
2002: Using improved observing techniques, astronomers discover four new moons orbiting Neptune: Laomedia, Neso, Sao and Halimede.
2003: Another moon, Psamathe, is discovered using ground-based telescopes.
2005: Scientists using the Keck Observatory take images of the outer rings and find that some of the ring arcs have deteriorated.
2011: Neptune completes its first 165-year orbit of the sun since its discovery in 1846.
2013: A scientist studying Neptune's ring arcs in archival Hubble Space Telescope images finds a previously unknown 14th moon of Neptune, provisionally designated S/2004 N 1.
2016: Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope discover a new dark spot on Neptune, the first new atmospheric vortex seen in the 21st century.
From Nasa Article "Neptune: Exploration"
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