Jakarta –
The distances between the planets are constantly changing as each of them moves. With such a long distance, can you imagine how far the Earth is from other planets that are further away from the Sun? Like Neptune for example.
Neptune is one of the planets with a large mass. This planet was discovered in 1612 and 1613 by Galileo Galilei. Unfortunately, the Italian astronomer observed it when Neptune was just starting to move backwards across the sky.
The planet sometimes appears to move backwards as our planet passes it in its orbit. NASA itself has been carrying out missions approaching Neptune since 1977. The journey to the planet took dozens of years.
The only Space Shuttle to Neptune
When Neptune and Earth are on the same side of the Sun, they are only 4.3 million kilometers apart at their closest. However, when they are on opposite sides, their distance can be up to 4.7 kilometers, as quoted by Space.com.
In the summer of 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 probe became the first to observe Neptune. However, the plane departed 12 years earlier, namely in 1977.
Voyager 2, launched August 20, 1977 and visited Jupiter in 1979. Quoted from NASA, this spacecraft then approached Saturn in 1981 and Uranus in 1986 before making its closest approach to Neptune on August 25, 1989.
Voyager 2 traveled 12 years at an average speed of 19 kilometers per second (about 42,000 miles per hour) to reach Neptune. Voyager observed Neptune almost continuously from June to October 1989.
The only spacecraft to visit Neptune was Voyager 2. According to Space.com, Voyager 2 observed Neptune’s “Great Dark Spot,” a series of short-lived storms in Neptune’s atmosphere. The dark spot is actually about the same size as Earth and is thought to be a hole in Neptune’s methane cloud.
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(nah/nwk)
2023-08-05 13:00:00
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