Researched and Written by: Mickey Knaggs
The planet I have been given to study is Neptune. Neptune is also known as the Blue Planet. This is one of the bigger planets in our solar system. I’ll try to let you know all there is to know about the beautiful blue gas giant. You will get the most recent data about the planet, Neptune. And with any luck, you will learn something new about the wondrous planet of Neptune!
In September, 1845, John C. Adams finished his study. His study was to discover if something was beyond the farthest known planet, Uranus. That something happened to be a great gas giant, a.k.a. Neptune! This discovery was not counted as a plane, at least not until Urbain J.J. backed up this scientific knowledge. In August 1989, the Voyager 2 was sent to take close-up pictures of Neptune. These were the first good pictures of the gas giant. The methane gases on Neptune give it its blue color. These people discovered the farthest planet yet. (Until Pluto came along that is.)
Neptune is a gas giant and the farthest away from Earth and the Sun also! The methane gases the Blue Planet gives off is what its nickname came from. This planet is probably the coolest looking planet I’ve seen. That is, through pictures. The surface is covered mostly by clouds hovering over, blown by 200 mph winds. Although barely visible, Neptune has 4 sets of rings located around it. These are all very narrow and faint rings, with clumps within them. It is still a mystery as to the cause of the clumps and bright spots.
Being a gas giant obviously means Neptune isn’t a solid planet. It’s not made out of rock or any other solid matter like Earth is. Most of it is gases, many different gases. The 3 gases that make up most of Neptune are helium, hydrogen and methane. These gases are the cause of Neptune’s color. The 3 gases take in the Sun’s red light. It then reflects blue, giving Neptune its unique appearance. There is also, or I should say, was, a Great Dark Spot located on Neptune. This ‘dark spot’ resembles a hurricane. To this day, the winds around the now fantasy Dark Spot are the highest on any planet; an amazing 1200 miles per hour!
The orbital period is an extraordinary long time. This revolutioning time, in earth measurements, is 164 years, 288 days, and 13 hours. Imagine, you would die before you survive one Neptune year! The funniest thing about the Blue Planet is it has super long years, but its days are shorter than ours! A day on Neptune would be 17.24 hours on our Earth. The tilt of Neptune on its axis is 28.31˚. The Blue Planet is also about 30 times farther away from the Sun than Earth is. It’s also one of the 2 planets not visible through a telescope. Did you know all those interesting facts?
Before this, I know nothing about Neptune. I didn’t even know what color it was, or any major, common details. Now, Neptune is very appealing, with its color and odd facts. I wouldn’t mind learning more about Neptune. But for now, I’m satisfied with what I know about the mysterious Blue Planet.