Neptune By Maxwell Salvadore

History

Discovered by Urbain Le Verrier and Johann Galle

Discovered on September 23rd, 1846

Discovered by observations by Galileo,

he thought it was a star though. Verrier

later took Galileo’s work and realized it was a planet

Distances

8th planet from Sun

Distance from Earth 4,313,041,920 km

Distance from Sun 4,503,000,000 km

Planet Measurements

Mass: 1.0243*1026 (17.147 Earths or 5.15*10-5 Suns)

Volume: 6.254*1013 (54.74 Earths)

Density: 1.638 g/cm3 (Can’t float in water)

Gravity: 11.15 m/s2

Orbit and Rotation

Revolution/Orbit/Year: 164.79 years (most recent orbit occurred on July 12th, 2011)

Rotation/Day: 16 hours and 6 min (So there are roughly 60,148 Earth days in one Neptune year and 89,774 Neptune days in one Neptune year…)

Atmosphere

80% Hydrogen

19% Helium

1% Other

Very thick atmosphere

Clouds composed of methane ice

Climate

Temperatures ranging from -201°C to -221° unlike Florida which ranges from 23° C to 31

Extremely dynamic storm systems with winds reaching almost 600 m/s or 1,340 mph

2 main storms on Neptune.

The Great Dark Spot and (surprisingly)

The Small Dark Spot.

Composition and Appearance

One of the 4 gas giants and made mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane.

Mantle made of water, ammonia, and methane

Core made of silicates, nickel, and iron.

Planet is completely blue except for

some spots that are much darker

(storms) and some spots that are white

(methane ice clouds)

What would happen if I decided to be an idiot and visit Neptune without a

space suit?

Well… first if the vacuum of space hasn’t killed you yet you would first freeze to death due to the “surface” (gas) temperature of -210°C. You would then start to be thrown violently by the 900 mph winds. If that isn’t life threatening you would suffocate due to the fact that there is kind of no oxygen on Neptune. You would then fall at an alarming rate of 11.15 m/s2, then after 2 seconds you would be falling at 22.3 m/s2, then 33.45 m/s2 and so on. If all of this still hasn’t kill you you are now plummeting towards the core of Neptune that is around 100,000 times the gravity on Earth (9.82 m/s2). If you haven’t died yet you’ve probably broken some sort of record…

Rings and moons

Has 14 known moons. Its first moon was discovered by William Lassell only 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself.

Neptune’s rings we discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2. There are 3 very fain rings made if dust and ice.

Would life be possible?

Unless we find materials strong enough to sustain the 1,340 mph winds, a thick atmosphere, and strong gravity we aren’t going to Neptune.

Bibliography

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"Neptune." Neptune. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/neptune.htm>.

"Solar System Exploration: Planets: Our Solar System: Overview." Solar System Exploration: Planets: Our Solar System: Overview. NASA, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Display=Facts>.

"Ultraviolet Spectrometer Observations of Neptune and Triton." Ultraviolet Spectrometer Observations of Neptune and Triton. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014. <http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1989Sci...246.1459B>.

Williams, David R. "Neptune Fact Sheet." Neptune Fact Sheet. NASA, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014. <http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/neptunefact.html>.