![]() The ancients, obviously, knew about and named the solar system’s five innermost non-Earth planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) because they were all visible to the naked eye. (For comparison, the strongest wind ever recorded on Earth was 301 mph during the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado in Oklahoma.) And surface pressure? Try more than 14,000 pounds per square inch, compared to 14.5 psi at sea level on Earth.Īnother fascinating thing about Neptune is how it was discovered. Triton, the largest of Neptune’s 14 moons, has the coldest temperature recorded in the solar system: minus-391 degrees, which is only 68 degrees warmer than absolute zero, the temperature at which all molecular motion stops.Įqually inhospitable are Neptune’s 1,200-mph winds, the strongest in our solar system. In addition to having a hydrogen-helium-methane atmosphere (i.e., no oxygen), the planet’s average temperature is minus-373 degrees. Its atmosphere, for example, consists of mostly of hydrogen (80%) and helium (18.5%), but the remaining 1.5% is methane, which absorbs red sunlight and reflects blue light, thus creating the planet’s gorgeous color.īut as attractive as Neptune is, it’s not conducive to life. Neptune, which is about four times the size of Earth, is a fascinating place. Look for Neptune in the constellation Aquarius, which rises Sept. One reason Neptune is so dim, of course, is that it’s so far away – almost three times farther from the sun than Saturn. Sirius, the brightest star, has a magnitude of -1.46, and naked-eye visibility for most people is +6.5). (Remember, the lower the magnitude, the brighter the object. Even at opposition, though, you’ll need a telescope to see it because it will be shining at a magnitude of +7.93. The most obvious type of opposition is the full moon.Īn object at opposition is at its brightest as seen from Earth (again, think of the moon), so this will be the best time of the year to observe Neptune. A celestial object is at opposition when it is in a straight line with the Earth and sun, with the Earth in the middle. The reason for our trip to the most-distant planet is that Neptune will be at opposition on Sept. ![]() This column has often dealt with Earth’s bright, relatively close, naked-eye planetary neighbors (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), but today we’re taking a 2.7 billion-mile trip out into the solar system, to the beautiful blue planet Neptune.
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