Opposition of Neptune

Neptune will be at Opposition in the Constellation of Aquarius it will be best seen at 21:00 BST. Neptune will look like a deep blue star but through a telescope it will show a dark blue disc but through a larger more powerful telescope you will see more detail.

This is how it was discovered. When Uranus was discovered and this was in 1781 the Solar System was deemed to be completed. However when a Planet is discovered the first thing the mathematicians do and that is to work out the orbit or path of Uranus. The first thing they discovered was that Uranus was forever slowing down at odd intervals and that the orbit was more elliptical rather than a perfect circle indicating that something was pulling Uranus along and back. A Cambridge graduate named John Couch Adams got the key to the problem. He worked out that an undiscovered Planet was pulling Uranus so he sent his calculation to Greenwhich but nothing was done. Subsequently in France a French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier made the same calculation as Adams and sent his work to Berlin and it was thanks to Berlin that the new Planet Neptune was discovered in the constellation of Capricorn in September 1846. So Adams finished his work first but Le Verriers initiative made the Solar System increase in numbers of Planets and this led to a row with France and Britain but led to a friendship with Adams and Le Verrier and eventually the decision was reached where both Adams and Le Verrier are both the discoverers of Neptune.

If were lucky we maybe able to see some of Neptunes 14 moons. Two of them are very unique. The smallest one of these unique two is named Nereid (All of Neptunes moons are named after the lesser deities of the Sea) and that orbits Neptune in a comet like orbit. The largest of the two and also the largest of all of Neptunes moons Triton orbits Neptune but it orbits Neptune in the wrong way and why that is we dont know. We do know that Triton was originally an object belonging to the Kuiper Belt and it migrated to Neptune.

In addition Neptune orbits the Sun in 164 years and a day lasts for about 9 hours so a Neptunian year lasts 192'573 days so what will be June on Earth will be February on Neptune so like Uranus Neptune has a Calendar that is complicated. This I can assure you doesnt upset the Neptunian inhabitants because their simply is not any. Neptune is a world that life cannot live since its made of Gases in their Iciest form mixed with complex Atoms of Methane and Nitrogen. But that doesnt mean we cant sent space probes to its 14 moons we can then see a more fascinating aspect of the Royal Blue world which happens to be larger then Uranus by a small degree. Neptune will be in Aquarius and that will be best seen at 21:00 BST.