+>9@>HH(FG(HH(d'`xxxxC`Neptune L L@&A The planet in my study is Neptune. The five areas that I &8wish to cover are: physical characteristics, atmpsheric &%cpmposition, and miscellanious facts.&6 Neptune was dsicovered in 1846 by a man named Johann &BGotfried Galle. It is the outermost planet of the "Gas Giants." &AIts diameter is 30,760 miles, almost sixty times the size of the &@Earth. Two thirds of Neptune is made up of a mixture of heated &:gases comprised of hydrogen, helium, water, and methane. &@Methane is what gives Neptune its blue color. Neptune has four &about half the diameter of the Earth. Neptune's strong winds &?blew the spot westward at 700 miles per hour. Voyager 2 saw a &7smaller spot in the southern hemisphere referred to as &A"Scooter." Observations in 1994 confirmed that the "Great Dark &Neptune's rapidly changing atmosphere. This is thought to be &>due to the slight changes in temperature between the northern &and southern hemispheres. &= Neptune is known for its strong winds. The strongest winds &:ever recorded on a planet were those of Neptune. Neptune &=trades places with Pluto for about twenty years out of every &APlutonian orbit. Since January 1979, Neptune has been the ninth &Cplanet, but in March 1999 Pluto again took its place for what will &Abe the next few centuries. It only revolves around the sun once &=every 165 Earth years, but it rotates on its axis once every &>nineteen hours. Neptune is nearly impossible to see with the &@naked eye. A good pair of binoculars or at least an eight inch &-telescope are needed to see much of anything.&4 When Neptune was discovered, astronomers named the &@planet after the god of the sea. They did this in keeping with &?the tradition of naming planets after mythological figures but &Calso because of its position in deep space. This turned out to be &7a perfect name when Neptune's deeep blue pigments came &