The Planet After Uranus
Before even being seen with a telescope, Neptune was discovered by means of mathematics. Astronomers had earlier thought that Uranus was the furthest planet from the Sun. Although, they noticed that it wasn’t always in the areas which they predicted it to be. This made the astronomers quite puzzled. They believed that the force of gravity of some unknown planet was influencing on Uranus.
Finding Neptune
A young English astronomer and mathematician began working to find the location of the “unknown planet” in year 1843. This astronomer was John C. Adams, and he predicted that this planet would be at least one billion miles farther from the Sun than Uranus was. His work was quite accurate, although not fully. Adams completed this in September of 1845. While this was going on, other astronomers were looking to find out the location of the unknown planet was as well.
French mathematician Urbain J. J. Leverrier also started working on the project. He had also given his opinion and prediction of where Neptune’s position was in 1846. Leverrier’s predictions were very similar to Adams’. He sent his predictions to the Urania Observatory in Germany. On September 23, 1846, Johann G. Galle and his assistant, Heinrich L. d'Arrest, did indeed find Neptune. They found it near the position which was predicted by Leverrier. Both Adams and Leverrier were credited with the discovery of Neptune, and it was named for Neptune, the Roman sea god. Voyager 2 provided the first close up pictures and views of Neptune in August of 1989.