Three Kings Day Essay, Research Paper

A Periodical on Rising Neptune

By Paul Cusin

In past years the knowledge of our solar system never really went further than Jupiter and Saturn, But 11 years ago the VOYAGER II on a mission to observe Saturn and Jupiter had time to waste so it took some shots of Neptune. Until this time Neptune had been know as a gas planet, it was said to be too far from the sun to have any energy, from it. But when the shots came back the theory of Neptune change significantly. In the plant s atmosphere was what looked to be a storm; the storm was about the size of earth. Shortly after Neptune was discovered was the discovery of the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is a field of remote icy objects that includes Pluto. Neptune s surreal amount of gravity is now said to have skewed the orbits of small distant bodies in the Kuiper Belt along with the position of the giant gas planets. Astronomers always thought that the planets remained stationary after the initial formation of the solar nebula. But there was something strange about Pluto that itched their curiosity. While all the planets in the solar system have a circular orbit, Pluto s orbit is a peculiarly tilted eclipse. This shows the enormous power that Neptune acquires.

It is said that the planetary movement is strangely relevant to that of earth. One somewhat speculative theory states that water came to earth by a distant icy body, much like the ones found in abundance in the Kuiper Belt. Unlike earth, which has a very thin layer of atmosphere, a thick swath of gas surrounds Neptune s small solid core. In the outer lays of Neptune s atmosphere the pressure might be close to that of the earth but with temperature near 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat from with in the planet increase until the come up so sharply in to the atmosphere (which is composed much of hydrogen) that it turns in to a liquid state with the consistency of pudding. In these conditions the electrons are stripped from molecules and the nuclei get packed together. A friction takes place with enough energy to make to create diamonds. So it am literally be raining diamond that make the Krupp diamond on Elizabeth Taylor s finger look like a chip. The actual answers to the Questions asked by Astronomers about Neptune will have to wait till a orbiter can be launched and collect more information on the planet. Until then all they have is a blurred but tantalizing view of this amazing planet.

The author s purpose in writing this article seemed to be to explain how incredible the solar system really is. He uses a tone that is serious and factual and because it was so consistent is made him get the facts across. He was very good at explaining everything and it made it easier to understand what he meant. One thing that he did was he supplied a couple of different theories and then linked them together. This argument was very tightly written he was very consistent in the way he put his facts together. The use of pictures really enhanced what he was saying because it gave a visual of how big the discovery really was. In school I have never really gotten much more information on the solar system other than what the orders of the planets are. This article really opened my views on the significance of the solar system. The article was very exciting it was one of the most interesting articles on a subject that I am not really familiar with. Anyone who has interest in astronomy and the discoveries made in it would love this article. The author knew what he was saying and with his understanding and ability to write made the reader confident in his understanding of the subject.