Neptune!

     Hello everyone, and welcome to... Meapz4Science! Today we will talk about the big blue planet everyone loves. It's... Neptune! "Is it Sailor Neptune?" Amisha, what are you doing here? " I wanted to help. Jeez." Fine, you can help. And no, it isn't about Sailor Neptune!

     Alright, first we will talk about Neptune's name origin. "Neptune, as we all know, is blue. This made its discoverers think of the ocean." Right. So they only saw it fit to name it after the Roman God of the sea. "The Romans get to name everything."



     Okay, next we will talk about how Neptune was discovered. "Well, neptune was actually discovered by mathematicians Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams." Well, you are a little bit right. They noticed Uranus had an irregular orbit, and thought another planet's gravity might be causing it. "So they used math to find out exactly where Neptune might be?" Yep. Then the had astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle use their mesurements, and there it was.

     Alright. Now we will compare Neptune to the other gas giants. Neptune is the smallest planet of the gas giants. "A planet that is similar in a lot of ways is Uranus. Boy, I love to talk about that! He." Amisha! Anyways, one thing that they have in common is their size. Neptune is only slightly smaller than Uranus. "Man! Uranus must be large! He He." Amisha! If you wanted to make Uranus jokes, you could have come to my last blog post! "Jeez. Jerk much?" I'm not a- never mind. Another thing they have in common is their composition. Like Uranus, Neptune has mostly hydrogen in the atmosphere, with that little bit of methane that makes it blue.

     In comparison with Jupiter and Saturn, it is one main thing for both. Like Saturn, Neptune has rings. "No it doesn't! You are wrong!" No I'm not! Neptune does have rings! They are just very faint and young. "Humph. Prove it!" Ugh. SECURITY! GET THIS WEIRDO OFF MY SET! Thank you. Who do we have now? "It's me, Science Fairy!" Finally someone who cares! Anyway, now we will talk about what it has in common with Jupiter. "Hmm... The Great Red Spot?" Exactly! Except on Neptune it is called the Great Dark Spot, and it is located around the middle of Neptune. "Well, what else is different? The last time I checked, the Great Dark Spot wasn't there, and a new one formed around the bottom of the planet." Good question. This just shows that unlike Jupiter, Neptune's atmosphere is always active, and when a storm stops, another one can form. "Cool."

     Alright, did you know that Neptune has 13 moons? "Yes I do, actually." Really? You could have- never mind. But I'll tell you something you might not know. "Okay, tell me. Well, one of its moons, Triton, actually orbits in the opposite way Neptune rotates. "Well, actually, I-" Don't even pretend like you knew! I know you didn't! Okay, now we will talk about some interesting facts about Neptune!

1. Even if Pluto was still a planet, Neptune would still sometimes be the farthest, because Pluto's orbit crosses over Neptune's.
2. The Great Dark Spot is accompanied by another storm called "Scooter," because of how fast it travels.
3. How does Methane make Neptune blue? Well, Methane absorbs the warm colors and reflects off the blue and green, and that is what we see. 

     Well, that's all for today. I'm Emma The Meap, "And I'm Science Fairy," And we will see you next time!

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