2. NEPTUNE
“The Other Blue Planet”

3. 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.

4. Facts about NEPTUNE
• History of Neptune
• Characteristics of Neptune
• Position and Movement of Neptune
• Neptune’s Moon and Rings
• Exploration on Neptune

5. History of NEPTUNE

6. Who discovered NEPTUNE?
Britain’s John Couch Adams France’s Urbain Le Verrier

7. Who discovered NEPTUNE?
• 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.

8. Who discovered NEPTUNE?
Johann Gottfried Galle
Johann 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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 the
Greek god Poseidon.

12. Facts about NEPTUNE
• History of Neptune
• Characteristics of Neptune
• Position and Movement of Neptune
• Neptune’s Moon and Rings
• Exploration on Neptune

13. Characteristics of NEPTUNE

14. 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.

15. What is NEPTUNE made of?

16. 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)
Upper Atmosphere wide and extend for
thousands of miles.

17. 80 % - Hydrogen
19 % - Helium
1 % - Methane
The Methane
makes the
blue color of
Neptune.
NEPTUNE’s Atmosphere

18. 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
NEPTUNE’s Mantle compounds.

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

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

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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
Great Dark Spot causing small storms or
large storms

24. • 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
NEPTUNE’s Great Dark Spot system.

25. Facts about NEPTUNE
• History of Neptune
• Characteristics of Neptune
• Position and Movement of Neptune
• Neptune’s Moon and Rings
• Exploration on Neptune

26. Position and Movement of NEPTUNE

27. 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
Differential Rotation quickly than the average.

28. 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.

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

30. How Long is a Year on
NEPTUNE?
• A year on
Neptune is
60,190 days
or 164.79
years.

31. Facts about NEPTUNE
• History of Neptune
• Characteristics of Neptune
• Position and Movement of Neptune
• Neptune’s Moons and Rings
• Exploration on Neptune

32. NEPTUNE’s Moons & Rings

33. NEPTUNE’s Moons
• Neptune has 13 discovered
moons!

34. Triton
Discovery Date : 1846
Discoverer : William Lassell
Diameter : 2,707 km.
Distance from Neptune :
354,800 km.
Orbit Length : 5 days, 21
hrs
It is the largest moon
of planet Neptune.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

42. • Halimede - 1,880 days
• Psamathe – 9, 116
days
Discovery Date : 2002
• Sao - 2,914 days Discoverer : Matthew
J, Holman, John J.
• Laomedeia - 3,168
days
Other moons of
• Neso - 9,374 days NEPTUNE

43. NEPTUNE’s Rings

44. NEPTUNE’s Rings
Ring Names Distance Width Albedo
(km) ("the ratio of the light reflected
(measured from the
planet center to the
(km) by a planet or satellite to that
received by it" (dictionary.com))
start of the ring).
1989 N3R Galle 41, 900 15 km Low
1989 N2R Leverrier 53, 200 15 km Low
Lassell 55, 400 ? Low
Arago 57, 600 ? Low

45. NEPTUNE’s Rings
1989 NIR Adams 57, 600 -km No Information
Available
Liberte ("Equidistant" Adams 62, 930 <50 km Low
arc)
Egalite ("Equidistant" Adams 62, 900 -km No Information
arc) Available
Fraternite ("Following" Adams 62, 900 No No Information
arc) Informatio Available
n Available
Courage (arc) 62, 900 -km No Information
Available

46. Exploration on Neptune

47. Voyager 2

48. 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

49. 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.

50. 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.

51. Voyager 2
• The winds speed goes up to 2,100 km/m.
Voyager 100 has examined complete rings
around it, plus additional
partial 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.

52. Da nke,
Viel en
eu nd!
Fr

53. References
• http://www.universetoday.com/21581/neptune/
• http://nineplanets.org/neptune.html
• http://www.solarviews.com/eng/neptune.htm
• http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/phot
os/neptune/#/neptune_1114_600x450.jpg
• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/interesting-facts-
about-neptune.html
• https://sites.google.com/site/mvmneptunemvm/ho
me