Features of Planet Neptune, Information About the Properties, Structure, Temperature, Distance and Size of the Planet Neptune

0
Advertisement

What kind of planet is Neptune? Properties of the planet Neptune, its mass, temperature, distance from the Sun. Information about the planet Neptune.

Neptune is one of the planets that are part of the solar system to which we belong, it is the eighth planet in the system counting from the sun; it is counted within the set of the so-called outer planets or gaseous giants, has a bluish coloration, and is surrounded by at least fourteen moons. It distances itself from the sun by approximately 4,503,000,000 km, its size is estimated at 24,622 km, and a mass of 1,0247e26k6. The complete return of its orbit takes around 164.8 Earth years (so a Neptunian year is just over 164 years of our planet), and its days are of approximately 16, 11 hours, it is estimated that it has a average surface temperature of less than 200 degrees centigrade.

10 Characteristics Of Neptune - Features of the Neptune Planet

Characteristics of the Planet Neptune:

Composition

Its structure consists of a hot rocky core, which is covered by a cold crust, which in turn is covered by a very thick and thick atmosphere in which there are very violent turbulences. Its internal part is composed of a mixture of molten rocks and very hot gases that are subjected to very high pressures and at high temperatures.

Different layers

It is believed that it is formed by different layers, according to what has been observed the upper layer is composed mainly of hydrogen, helium and methane, elements that make up clouds within its atmosphere. More internally is a cold rock layer that surrounds the hot blanket of molten rock and compressed gases at very high pressures, it is estimated that the temperature of the mantle oscillates between 1,700 and 4,700 degrees Celsius.

Advertisement

Atmosphere

Its atmosphere is mainly composed of methane, and helium, ammonia and water are also present. Due to the thermal radiation of the planet there are atmospheric effects, creating climatic phenomena such as wind (the fastest winds recorded in the solar system), and phenomena such as storms such as the “big dark spot” that It was detected in 1989 and disappeared in 1994, which was a hurricane larger than the Earth’s diameter. The blue coloration of this planet is due to the fact that a large part of its atmosphere contains helium and even though there is little sunlight due to the distance from the planet, the presence of helium favors the absorption of a good amount of red light from the sun, and luminous rays of the blue wavelength that come from the sun are reflected.

10 Characteristics Of Neptune - Features of the Neptune Planet

Rotation

The rotation of this planet around its own axis, is like other outer planets, much faster than that of the inner planets, being approximately 16 hours, a speed that contributes to the aspect that can be observed in its atmosphere, where we can observe the effects of that spin so fast-paced.

It has a magnetic field

Thanks to the elements that are melted inside it, this planet has a magnetic field, but this magnetic field is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the planet.

Radiate heat

It was believed that it was a completely cold planet because being so far from the sun, receives approximately 30 times less solar energy than the earth, but after new observations it is estimated that there must be a very large heat source inside of Neptune, (a highly hot nucleus inside it), which is believed to be the reason why atmospheric changes are so evident in its atmosphere, which according to some scientists would explain the extremely high winds that have been registered in its atmosphere .

Regarding the possibility that Neptune has a hot core, astronomers rely to base this hypothesis, that Neptune radiates at least twice as much thermal energy from its interior, than it receives from the sun, even being the planet in the that the highest rate of heat radiation in the entire solar system has been detected, which is why many scientists believe that possibly the planet Neptune is still in the process of formation, and that perhaps it is due to the gravitational compression of the gases that would generate large amounts of heat.

Atmospheric phenomena

As in Jupiter, gigantic storms have been detected in its atmosphere. In the year 1989, Voyager 2 detected and photographed a gigantic storm in the southern hemisphere of the planet, more than 12 thousand kilometers wide, similar to the storm that has Jupiter on its surface but differentiating itself from it, in which Neptune’s storms, in addition to possessing higher speeds, are transient, since the storm detected in 1989 disappeared in 1994, being corroborated by the Hubble Space Telescope , and another was detected in the northern hemisphere of the planet, besides that it was observed that they vary quite a lot in a relatively short time, since it has been observed and measured that they have size variations even in thousands of kilometers in a few days.

Advertisement

Winds of up to 1500 kilometers per hour and 1100 kilometers per hour have been recently observed and measured, being the fastest winds that could have registered in the solar system, even exceeding the speeds registered in the so-called “big red dot” of Jupiter, (which is a storm that is known to exist on that planet).

10 Characteristics Of Neptune - Features of the Neptune Planet

Moons

Although the distance surrounding Neptune has not been completely visible due to the distance, it has been possible to detect several moons that revolve around it, fourteen of which have been identified so far. They have called with mythological names such as: Triton (the largest), Nereida, Proteo, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larisa, Halimedes, Sao, Laomedeia, Psmate and Neso.

Its largest moon is called a triton and is about the size of our moon; because of the observations that have been made, it is believed that it is even colder than Pluto, which is further from the sun than Neptune. Triton is so cold that the nitrogen that normally is in a gaseous state in other celestial bodies, is frozen and forming ice caps. Volcanic activity has been detected in this moon, (its volcanoes expel liquid methane, nitrogen and ammonia mixtures, which freeze when they rise). This volcanic activity makes scientists think that liquid water could exist under its surface.

Rings

Neptune has a system of rings which is formed mainly by dust particles and debris of ice and silicates, these rings were discovered in the middle of the XX century, its main rings are the so-called “Adamas”, which is more of 63 thousand kilometers of Neptune, the ring “Le Verrier”, at 53 thousand kilometers and the Galle ring at 42,000 kilometers. In addition to these rings that can be observed, there are other rings or thin layers of very thin cosmic material that revolve around this planet.

History

Although there are indications of its observation since 1612 by galileo, who confused it with a star with apparent closeness to Jupiter, it was not discovered until the works of the French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier, who when observing alterations in the orbit of Uranus , calculated the existence of another planet in the vicinity, that same year the German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet based on the calculations of Le Verrier, while for its part the British mathematician John Couch Adams made similar calculations tending to it by the same dates, but the English astronomers delayed in announcing the discovery, provoking certain national rivalries by the discovery.

10 Characteristics Of Neptune - Features of the Neptune Planet

Currently there is consensus that both scientists, (Levarrier and Adams) deserve credit for the discovery of the planet. The name of the planet was suggested by Le Verrier, and refers to the Roman name of the god of the seas Neptune, (Poseidon for the Greeks).

Leave A Reply