Neptune

Neptune, god of the Sea (eighth planet from the Sun).

Appropriately named, Neptune is an ocean god for an ocean-colored planet. You can
see his symbol, the trident, below.

Astronomers use Neptune’s fishing spear, the trident, for the planetary symbol.
Neptune is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Poseidon, god of the sea.

Mythological History of Neptune, or Poseidon

Neptune, or in Greek mythology, Poseidon, is one of the twelve gods of Olympus.
He is known as God of the Sea. He also causes earthquakes (“earth-shaker”), and
is known as the “tamer of horses.” For this reason, horses often were used to indicate
Poseidon. Poseidon was the son of Kronos and Rhea. In most accounts, he is swallowed by Kronos and later saved
by Zeus. According
to the Iliad, the world was split between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon; Zeus received the heavens, Hades
received the underworld, and Poseidon received the sea.

Poseidon fathered many children, including Theseus, Pelias and Neleus, and possibly
Pegasus. He had sexual relations with Amphitrite, Tyro, Amymone, Cleito, Demeter,
and Medusa. He was worshiped in Athens (second only to Athena, goddess of Athens),
and was the most important god in Corinth. Poseidon rode on a chariot pulled by
horses and lived on a palace on the ocean floor.

Scientific facts about Neptune:

Neptune had to wait until modern times to have a planet named in his honor. In the
early 1800’s, astronomers carefully observed the planet Uranus in order to
determine its exact orbit around the sun. They found to their surprise, that its
actual movement lagged a bit behind what their calculations were predicting. In
1820, French astronomer Alexis Bouvard began making tables predicting the movements
of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. The tables seemed to work for Jupiter and Saturn,
but he found it impossible to predict where Uranus should be. Some believed there
might be another planet beyond Uranus whose gravitational pull was slowing it slightly.
An English astronomer, John Couch Adams, and a French astronomer, Urbain J. J. Leverrier,
unknown to each other, both calculated where such a planet must be to account for
the effect on Uranus. They both came out with the same results: Leverrier was the
first to announce his results and on September 23, 1846, Johann Galle, in Berlin,
confirmed the existence of a new planet, less than one degree from the predicted
position and, behold, there was the eighth planet. It was named Neptune,
not for any particular reason, but because Neptune was one important god who did
not have a planet named in his honor. Neptune is another gas giant, similar in size
and structure to Uranus. Although discovered in 1846, the eighth planet did not
return to the position where scientists first saw it until 2011. Neptune orbits
slowly because it is far from the Sun. In size and color, Neptune seems to be a
twin to Uranus, but Neptune does not spin on its side; its axis tilts only a little
more than that of Earth. The orbits of two moons, Triton and Nereid, crisscross
the equator diagonally. Between Triton, the largest satellite, and the planet itself,
six small, recently discovered moons also orbit. The planet is about seventeen times
more massive than Earth. Astronomers now regard Neptune and Uranus as twin planets,
somewhat alike in size, density, mass, and rotation.