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PLANET DISCOVERED ON THIS DAY IN 1846

German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle (below) 
discovered the planet Neptune at the Berlin
Observatory.

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Johann Gottfried Galle
(9 June 1812 – 10 July 1910)

The Berlin Observatory, Germany Drawing by Mary Evans Picture Library | Fine Art America
The the Berlin Observatory. 

9-inch Fraunhofer Refractor, Deutsches Museum, Munich | Flickr
The 1829 9"/24cm refractor telescope of New Berlin
Observatory that discovered Neptune.



Artist's impression of planet Neptune - Stock Image - R420/0036 - Science Photo Library
Artist’s impression of the planet Neptune.

The blue gas giant, which has a diameter four
times that of Earth, was named for the Roman
god of the sea. It has eight known moons, of
which Triton is the largest, and a ring system
containing three bright and two dim rings.

It completes an orbit of the sun once every
165 years. In 1989, the U.S. planetary
spacecraft Voyager 2 was the first human
spacecraft to visit Neptune.

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,Astronomy,Discovery,HISTORY,Observatory,Planet and have No Comments

PLANET DISCOVERED ON THIS DAY IN 1846

 See the source image
   

German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the
planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory.

Neptune, generally the eighth planet from the sun, was
postulated by the French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph
Le Verrier, who calculated the approximate location of the
planet by studying gravity-induced disturbances in the
motions of Uranus. On September 23, 1846, Le Verrier
informed Galle of his findings, and the same night Galle
and his assistant Heinrich Louis d’Arrest identified
Neptune at their observatory in Berlin. Noting its movement
relative to background stars over 24 hours confirmed that it
was a planet.

The blue gas giant, which has a diameter four times that of
Earth, was named for the Roman god of the sea. It has eight
known moons, of which Triton is the largest, and a ring
system containing three bright and two dim rings. It completes
an orbit of the sun once every 165 years. In 1989, the U.S.
planetary spacecraft Voyager 2 was the first human
spacecraft to visit Neptune.

See the source image
1838 painting of the New Berlin Observatory.

See the source image
Johann Gottfried Galle
(June 9, 1812 – July 10, 1910)

posted by Bob Karm in ANNIVERSARY,Astronomy,HISTORY,Observatory,Planet and have No Comments