On this day, in 1612, Neptune was observed for the first time by Galileo Galilei, who took it erroneously by a fixed star. One of the dots marked by Galileo on his drawings of Jupiter dated of that day match with the position that is now know to have been the location of Neptune on that date. Neptune, not visible to the naked eye, was discovered only in 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle, astronomer of the Berlin Observatory, based on calculations produced by Urbain Le Verrier stemming from anomalies in the orbit of Uranus.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
“In spite of his exhaustion, Chris felt a surge of excitement passing through him. They would be the first human beings to see Neptune closely. Perhaps they would learn the answers to mysteries which had puzzled astronomers since the planet was discovered in 1846.”
Nearly Neptune (1969)
Hugh Walters
"Nearly Neptune" is a science fiction novel by British writer Hugh Walters, published in 1969. Aimed at a younger public, the novel is the twelfth in the Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. The story follows Chris Godfrey and three fellow astronauts after a fire and apparent break-up of their spacecraft while approaching the orbit of Neptune.
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