![]() ![]() It is made up of water, methane, and ammonia. It is located at a depth of about 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers). This ocean is not quite gas and not quite liquid. Instead, it gradually merges with a strange ocean. The atmosphere never reaches a solid surface or even a liquid surface. And the pressure and temperature of the atmosphere gradually rise. When the pressure of its atmosphere is about the same as the atmospheric pressure at the Earth’s surface, the temperature on Neptune is high enough for methane to form clouds.īelow the clouds the atmosphere extends downward for thousands of miles. From there the atmosphere extends thousands of miles toward the planet’s interior. The temperature in the upper atmosphere of Neptune is a frigid -355☏ (-215☌). Thin, wispy clouds floating in the upper atmosphere are above most of the methane, so they appear white. Neptune’s methane makes the planet appear blue. When sunlight shines through methane gas, the reddish colors are absorbed and the bluish colors are reflected. Methane absorbs the reddish colors in the spectrum. Sunlight is made up of a spectrum of colors that are absorbed by some materials and reflected by others. Neptune appears blue because of the methane gas in its atmosphere. On Neptune, these elements often occur in compounds such as methane, ammonia, and water. These include carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The other 90 percent of Neptune’s mass consists mostly of heavier elements. In contrast, Jupiter‘s mass is about 96 percent hydrogen and helium. About 10 percent of Neptune’s mass is made up of hydrogen and helium gases. For example, Neptune and Jupiter have very different compositions. Neptune is different from the other gas giant planets. The supercritical fluid on Neptune consists of water, methane, and ammonia.Īlthough it has no distinct surface, it amounts to a kind of ocean. It has both gas-like and liquid-like properties. This fluid is called a supercritical fluid. It gradually becomes less and less gaseous and transitions into a strange kind of fluid. ![]() The atmosphere becomes increasingly dense with depth. Neptune has a deep, thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, along with traces of methane gas. They are very different from Earth, which has a rocky crust with an interior of molten rock. Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are the solar system’s gas giants. Unlike other planets, Neptune’s Great Dark Spot has winds with a speed of 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mile) per hour, the fastest in the Solar System. It is no wonder no one discovered the planet until Adams and Leverrier told astronomers where to look.Īlso there are huge anticyclonic storms on Neptune, do you remember Jupiter's Great Red Spot? Something familiar can be seen on Neptune, it is called Great Dark Spot and it has about the same size as Earth. ![]() Neptune’s great distance from Earth makes it appear very tiny even when viewed through large telescopes. The less sunlight reflected off a planet, the dimmer the planet appears from Earth. In fact, the sunlight that reaches Neptune is 900 times less intense than the sunlight that reaches Earth. Because Neptune is so far from the sun, it receives very little sunlight. Neptune is about 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the sun. Although Neptune is large, it cannot be seen from Earth unless a telescope is used. Neptune’s diameter is about four times greater than Earth’s. This is the length of the planet’s “day.” The rate of rotation of the visible features in Neptune’s atmosphere varies greatly depending on the features’ latitudes. Neptune’s magnetic field rotates once in about 16 hours. It sometimes ventures closer to the sun than Neptune. Of these trans-Neptunian objects, the most familiar is Pluto. Beyond Neptune’s orbit is a region that is traversed by many trans-Neptunian objects. Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the sun. In fact, this distance is about 30 times greater than the corresponding value for Earth. Neptune’s average orbital distance from the sun is enormous. (An ellipse is roughly oval-shaped.) The planet travels a huge distance to complete just one orbit. As it revolves, Neptune traces an ellipse. Neptune revolves around the sun once every 165 years. Among the things discovered is that this planet has a thick atmosphere that grows denser with depth, gradually merging with a vast, strange ocean. The probe revealed some remarkable facts about the planet and its moons. Then in 1989 the planetary probe Voyager 2 flew past Neptune. Observations were limited because the planet is so far away. But very little was known about the planet until recently. Neptune has a rich blue color and is named after the Roman god of the sea. The smallest of the four giant planets in the solar system. ![]() The planet Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the sun. ![]()
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