Neptune Geography

Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun and at its distance the sun would only shine 1/400 the brightness that we see on Earth. But Neptune is not in total darkness. The Darkness around Neptune is a fridgid 40 degrees celcius. Neptune was not discovered until 1846 because of its remoteness. Over the next 140 years scientists have learned that Neptune is a gas giant like Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus. They also determined that Neptune and Uranus are of about the same size. Until the Voyager 2 in 1989 passed by the planet, this was about all that we knew of this distant planet. The space/probe discoveries started to pile even five months before it encountered the planet on August 28, 1989. The Voyager 2 probe’s cameras picked up a huge dark blue area about the size of Asia within the atmosphere of the planet. It was then dubbed the Great Dark Spot (GDS). This feature was something like the Great Red Spot found on Jupiter. Strangely enough the Dark Spot found on Neptune had exactly the same location and proportions as that of Jupiter’s GRS. However this feature was not long lasting like Jupiter’s spot, and by the time the Hubble reached the area of Neptune in 1994 there was no sign of it.

Why is the planet Neptune blue? The methane clouds in the planet's upper atmosphere absorbs red light and reflects blue light giving the planet its blue color. Methane is a common natural gas that becomes liquified around minus 173 degrees C and freezes just a few degrees below that. The upper atmosphere of Neptune is around this temperature and is mostly made up of tiny droplets of methane forming a blue mist. Underneath the visible surface of the planet lies a thick atmoshpere of helium and hydrogen that thousands of layers down meet with another warmer slush of hydrogen, ice water, and helium that move around inside Neptune. This core region rotates every 16 hours, but the upper atmosphere rotates much slower at different rates at different latitudes. This causes friction that builds up heat inside the planet. This heat causes turbulence in Neptunes atmosphere which was seen by the Voyager 2 probe such as the GDS.

After finding rings around both Jupiter in 1979 and Uranus in 1977, an all-out search for a possible set of rings orbiting around Neptune was sent out. Finally after researching something was found near the planet by Voyager 2. Neptune has a total of five rings that orbit it. Three of which are thread-thin and two that are wider. Strangely the three rings are thicker in some places than in others. But what causes this occurance still remains unknown.

Neptunes Moon’s are as follows:

1. Naiad
2. Thalassa
3. Despina
4. Galatea
5. Larissa
6. Proteus
7. Triton
8. Nereid