Neptune
completed its first full orbit around the sun, at least since the planet was
discovered, on July 12, 2011. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took photos of the
planet to commemorate the occasion, timing the snapshots so that they captured
all of Neptune's sides during its 16-hour rotation.
When
Neptune was discovered in 1846, it doubled the size of the known solar system,
creating a boundary at 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the sun.
Its seasons last the longest of any planets in the solar system, and are a
stark counterpoint to Mercury's, which shift so quickly that it's impossible to
determine when one ends and another begins. Learn more about Neptune and other
neighboring planets with the videos below.
No comments:
Post a Comment