Summary Of Accounting For Anomaly: The Discovery Of Neptune

When was Neptune discovered?“Neptune was the very first planet to be discovered by using math! (mathematics). After the discovery of Uranus in 1781, astronomers noticed that the planet was being pulled a little bit out of its normal orbit. John Couch Adams of Britain and Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier of France, used math to figure out that the gravity from another planet beyond Uranus was affecting the orbit of Uranus. They figured out not only where the planet was, but also how much mass it had. A young astronomer, Johann Gottfried Galle, decided to search for the predicted planet and observed Neptune for the first time in 1846.” -http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/146--When-was-Neptune-discovered-

As technology improves it is even more likely that we will discover more about our solar system. A great current example of this is the claim of ‘Planet X’. Researchers say that there is possibly another planet in our solar system that orbits beyond Neptune but is large in size. Two scientists recently announced evidence that a body nearly the size of Neptune that orbits the sun every 15,000 years. Since it has never been seen, because it only orbits every 15,000 years, scientists and researchers cannot make a factual claim on the body even though there is strong evidence of its

And in 1618 Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).

In the outer limits of our solar system there is a planet unlike any other, Pluto. Pluto was discovered in February of 1930 by an American astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh. It is the only planet to have been discovered by an American. All though we have known of the existence of Pluto for over thirty years now, there are still many mysteries surrounding this celestial body. Being the farthest planet has made it difficult to study Pluto, Adding to the obscurity of this strange planet is that the capability to send spacecraft such distances has never been achieved. Through the wonders of science and astronomy, there are many things that can be determined, concluded, and hypothesized about this obscure planet.

The discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781 was a surprise to the professional astronomers of the day. William was an amateur astronomer and he made his own telescopes. He was looking at the night sky and he was looking at what others had noted was another star. With his better equipment, he could see that it was not a star but a planet. He wanted to name the planet after King George III of England. It was decided that is was going to be named after the Greek gods. It got the name of Uranus who was the father of Saturn according to mythology. It took a few years for that name to stick but when it did, the rest was history. William did get a paid as a professional astronomer after his discovery. That is good advice for all of us: Do

Uranus was later found and its number is 19. Bode’s law can not, however, accurately give the correct answer for Neptune and Pluto. While Bode’s name is in the name of the law he was not the person who created it. He was only the person who popularized it. Johann Daniel Titius was actually the first person to first announce it. Bode had written about it in one of his studies but he had not credited Titius for his works, so people just assumed that it was Bode’s findings. Bode later gave Titius the credit he deserved, hence the second name of the law, Bode-Titius Law.

Their limited telescope technology had peaked and they were unable to see any further. With the new star being found, new telescopes created, it was opened up for more discoveries and open mindedness towards astrology. The discovery of Uranus sparked a renewed interest and search for more planets and other things in our solar system. This was the beginning of the “second phase” in the search for more planets. Most people agree that the discovery by William Herschel was a check point in discovery, with the planets before Uranus being the first phase of discovery and the ones after that being the second

Outer space is a realm of new discoveries and possibilities. There is one particular planet in our solar system that is brimming with these possibilities. However, for nine years it has not actually been considered a planet. The “dwarf planet”, Pluto, has been overlooked and misrepresented in astronomy and planetary science. Since being demoted from planet status to dwarf planet status, little Pluto has raised some big questions about what defines a planet and what does not. In this paper, I will attempt to persuade you that Pluto should be promoted back to its original planet status. First, I will give you a brief history of Pluto, from its discovery to what prompted its reclassification. Next, I will explain the definition of a planet as given by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the definition’s flaws. Finally, I will discuss the recent discoveries of the New Horizons mission and how these new discoveries should lead to the reclassification of Pluto to its original planet status.

At the end of our Solar System lies a small a small planet, smaller than any of the other planets, Pluto. In 1905, Lowell, an american astronomer, found the force of gravity of some unknown planet that is affect the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. In 1915 he predicted the location of a new planet. Lowell used a telescope to scope the sky where he thought that the planet would be discovered at. However, Lowell died without actually discovering Pluto. In 1930 Clyde W Tombaugh took over Lowell’s research on Pluto. He used predictions made by Lowell and other astronomers and photographed the sky with a more powerful telescope. After he examined the photos he found Pluto. Lowell and Tombaugh's work helped to find the ninth planet in the solar system,

In 1905, Percival Lowell (left) studied the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. After using mathematics, he had proven a completely unknown planet, Planet X, must cause them to move oddly

In 1906 Percival Lowell, an American mathematician and Astronomer, initiated a research project to find the infamous “Planet X,” the possible ninth planet. Sadly, Lowell died before completing the project. However, his research captured two pictures of Pluto that no one recognized as the ninth planet. After Lowell's death, the search did not resume until the late 1920’s, when Tombaugh was entrusted with the “PLanet X” project. At the time Tombaugh was 23 and spent a year photographing the night sky and analyzing the images. On February 18th, 1930, Tombaugh discovered a possible moving object in an image taken that Janurary. After this more proof was found that “Planet X” had been discovered (Williams

Bottke, W.F., Vokrouhlick´y, D., Rubincam, D.P., & Broˇz, M.: 2002, in: W.F. Bottke, A. Cellino, P. Paolicchi & R.P. Binzel (eds.), Asteroids III (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press), p. 395-408.

“Perhaps most important for the science of astronomy is that the discovery of Uranus began the search for other undiscovered planets in our solar system. It was the beginning of a second phase in the discovery of planets, during which Neptune and Pluto were discovered.”

Internal Summary/Preview: After discussing the discovery of “Planet X” through the beliefs of Percival Lowell and the actual finding done by Clyde Tombaugh, we will shift to discussing how “Planet X” got the name Pluto.

Since ancient times, the universe had captivated people’s imagination and curiosity. With the limitation on technology, early sky watchers were only capable of classifying objects they observed as either a star or a planet. During the twentieth century, with advancement in telescopes to see further into space with more accurate details, scientists were able to find numerous stars and planet like objects within the solar system. Scientists had no trouble classifying objects such as Uranus and Neptune as planets. However, the real trouble came when they discovered a planetary object called Ceres. Objects like Ceres and Pluto behaved similarly to regular planets. Because of the limitations on the technology at the time, it was very difficult