Planet Neptune, Research Paper Example

Neptune is a small planet in the solar system. Neptune is the eighth and sometimes the 9^th planet from the sun, depending on the orbital system. Neptune is one of the smallest gas planets among the gas giants (big planets) which are in most cases gaseous in nature. Neptune was first discovered by a man called Galileo as a moon but as research grew better and advanced; a man called Urbain Le Verrier later found that Neptune is truly a magical planet. The planet Neptune was named after the god of sea in the Roman Culture and history (Linde 2).

Neptune is said to be made up of helium, hydrogen, and also methane (Linde 3). Methane is the chemical composition that gives the planet Neptune its nice blue colour. It was reported that Neptune has a faint ring surrounding it and that the ring is not complete (Linde 3). This however was disqualified when Voyager2 (a space ship) arrived to the planet in the year 1989 on the 25^th of August. It was documented that the rings surrounding the planet Neptune were finally complete. Neptune also has nine beautiful and shinning moons in its atmosphere (Linde 5). It is believed that there are four more moons in the atmosphere of the planet Neptune. This is such an incredible phenomenon in the sense that it is the only planet that has nine confirmed moons. There are a number of reviews about the facts of the planet Neptune.  It has been reported that Neptune has its own source of heat and that it emits an amount of energy that is 2.7 times greater than that which it receives. Compared to earth, Neptune is 30 times away in distance from the sun. Neptune takes an approximate of 165 years on earth to go around the sun. It has been discovered that the planet Neptune at one point had a dark spot that was great and this spot was almost compared to that of planet Jupiter in so many ways.

Planet Neptune however has a number of limitations. The planet has a lot of winds (approximately 1,240mph) and this is thrice as fast as the hurricanes on Earth. Another limitation is that the planet Neptune is rocky in nature. The research of the planet Neptune is so intense that many books written about the planet report that the moon called Triton is so close to Neptune. The moon will be torn apart by the great gravity in Neptune and this will form a lot more rings around the planet and the rings will be more spectacular than the rings around planet Saturn’s. The dark spots in planet Neptune appear and disappear time after time in different places in the planet. Jupiter’s dark spot is always in the same position and it never disappears. Neptune’s moon, the great Triton is the only moon in the solar system that orbits in opposite direction as compared to the direction of its planet Neptune. This is such an amazing phenomenon that all the other planets lack.

It has been reported that Neptune also has volcanic eruptions (David 4). These volcanoes are caused by the worlds near Neptune in the sense that they produce enough warmth that melts a mixture of ammonia and water ice, and this forms an anti-freeze. The liquid could rise up from the cracks on the ground of planet Neptune then erupt onto the planet’s surface. Dr. Jewitt Luu also reported the existence of ammonia hydride (6). Neptune also called the Blue giant, is the most distant from the sun. This is because of the eccentric orbit of the planet Pluto. The planet Neptune is the last planet in the solar system and it is four times the size planet Earth. Neptune’s axis often tilts from its perpendicular position to about 28 degrees. This causes the sun to heat the planet in its southern and northern halves alternatively. This makes it possible for planet Neptune to also have seasons (Linde 6). This is such an incredible fact that the planet although far from the sun can have seasons.

Snow and ice cubes on the surface of earth develop as crystals. This happens when the water molecules stack themselves in neat patterns to form the snow that falls on the surface of Earth. Neptune is a surprise on the way it forms its ice. The temperature in the surface of planet Neptune dips to temperatures lower than -360 degrees Fahrenheit. The ice formed in Neptune often looks like glass which is amorphous. The result of the glass- like structure is due to the bombardment by the cosmic and ultraviolet rays that turn the ice which was crystalline in nature to an amorphous state. All these take place within about ten million years. The crystalline ice is said to have been from the underground of the planet. The temperatures are caused by the world near the planet and the possibility of volcanic eruptions.

From the analysis of the data on Neptune and its structure it has been found that the planet is so far from the sun. The largest moon near the planet caused temperatures to be so low and thus the formation of the crystalline ice (Standage 6). The temperatures are however lowered by the worlds near the planet and hence the formation of the glass-like ice. The fact that Neptune is a rock planet makes it unbelievably amazing how the planet can have both ice and also volcanic eruptions. Unlike some of the planets, Neptune is big is size and has less hours of a day and night. The planet keeps on evolving time after time thus making it hard to know what happens to the dark spots on its surface and the reason why these dark spots disappear and re-appear after some time. Neptune is the best planet to learn and study about. The main reason is that, the planet has a lot of wonderful features and phenomena that planet Earth or the other planets lack.

Planet Neptune has its advantages and few disadvantages in the solar system. The fact that it takes two years and 12 days to get there from planet Earth is a hectic journey. It is hard for people to travel to planet Neptune because the planet is covered with radioactive rays that make it hard for people to get to the planet. Even with space suits, the radioactive waves pass through to the body of astronauts. The planet has very high temperatures and it has heat from itself and also from the planets surrounding it. Planetary formation has been agreed to deteriorate greatly when the planets are far away from the sun. The terrestrial planets have been believed to occur from the accumulation of solid bodies that were in constant collision with each other. There are two mechanisms as to how the gas planets (including the giant planets) formed; “bottom-up” and “bottom-down” (Linde 7). Bottom up is a mechanism that was invented by people of the late 20^th Century. This mechanism occurs when a number of great solid mass collide and accumulate. This collision accumulation process is followed by the process of hydrodynamic accretion of the gaseous envelope finally formed. Bottom-up mechanism has recently been discovered by prominent scientists, it occurs when a protoplanetry disk forms protoplanets that are self gravitating (Cole 9). This is formed when the gaseous disk is not stable gravitationally. Then the process is followed by coagulation of the settled dust grains that form solid cores that are central. The same two mechanisms have also been improved to give an explanation of how the giant planets are able to have ice in them. It is believed that the solid cores of Neptune form slowly hence accreting substantial gaseous envelopes after disk removal in the planet’s core. While in the process of disk instability radiation (form planets and also stars near and which are massive) is hypothesized in order for the removal of the gaseous envelope.

The formation of the planet Neptune is still an ongoing research that has not yet fully been finalized. The fact still remains that the planet Neptune is a gas planet and also an ice (amorphous) planet. Neptune is one of the planets that when applied to people’s lives, it is full of magic and hope. The dimension that Neptune adds to a person’s life is so great that people use the planet to evaluate their lives. It has been discovered for a very long time that the greatest artists, writers and composers associate all their energy and talent on this great planet. People write great things because they consider the planets as gods. Neptune was named after a Roman god of the sea. This still means that the people associated with this planet are very strong in character; they hold the world together and in many cases are very creative when it comes to imagination and how it can be applied to the activities that control people’s lives.

The artists; musicians, painters and dancers inclusive are all associated with this planet, their ability to great creativity is so advanced that they have no problem waking up in the middle of the night and do what they always do perfectly. This planet also has a negative association; delusions. Most imaginative people tend to be delirious at one point in their lives. This people can do things that they do not know they did but it would turn out perfectly. An example is a creative writer who is by nature associated with the planet Neptune.  This creative writer will be delusional and still while in that state, write a book that is full of inspiration and creativity and at the end of it all, the writer will be surprised that the book is out and the writer has no idea how and when the book was writer was written. Planet Neptune is the best planet in terms of features, size and its history. The people associated with the planet have turned out to be the greatest men and women in the history of Earth.

Works Cited

Cole, Michael D. Neptune: The Eighth Planet (Countdown to Space). New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 2002.

Jewitt, Luu: The first Kuiper Belt Object: Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts, 1992.

Linde, Alan. Terrestrial Magnetism. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 2002.

Standage Tom: The Neptune File. New York: Allen Lane, 2003.

Littmann Mark: Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990.

Stevenson R.  Kuiper Belt Objects. California: YSC, 2003.