Similarities Between Neptune And Uranus

Space is a vast expanse, which is steadily growing. Within space, there is our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, made up of thousands of solar systems. Our Solar System is located on the miner spur of the Milky Way called the Orion arm, “…about 25,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy.” (Bryd), and is just one of the 33 star systems that make up the Solar Interstellar Neighborhood. The Solar System contains one star, the Sun, eight planets, and an asteroid belt; the eight planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, in order from the Sun. Uranus and Neptune are the furthest from the Sun, which gives these two planets many similarities, but also many differences too. Being two separate entities in space the
two planets have varying information, but some of this info is very much alike, however, not exactly. On the other hand, the differences between the two planets is drastic, and most are clearly visible. The characteristics that connect Uranus and Neptune together are similar, as shown by, data, features, and occurrences of the planets. Data shows how Uranus and Neptune are similar because the two planets are near each other, and, therefore, share similar qualities concerning the data on them. The mass of Uranus is “86,810,300,000,000,000 kg”, (Uranus Facts), and the mass of Neptune is “102,410,000,000,000,000”, (Neptune Facts), which are relatively close masses, being two different planets in the same solar system. “Neptune has an average surface temperature of -214 degrees Celsius,” (Neptune Facts), and the surface temperature of Uranus is -197 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the two planets are almost the same, and freezing because the planets are the farthest planets from the Sun. Just because some of the data between Uranus and Neptune is similar, it does not mean the planets do not have differences. Neptune’s mass is around 102 billion kg, while Uranus’ has a mass of around 86 billion kg. Neptune’s orbital distance is around 4.5 billion km, and Uranus’ has an orbital distance of around 2.9 billion km. Neptune orbits the sun at around 12 thousand miles per an hour and Uranus orbits the sun at around 24.5 thousand miles per an hour. The equatorial tilt of Neptune is 28.3 degrees, and the tilt of Uranus is 97.8 degrees. Although both Neptune and Uranus have atmospheres that consist of helium, hydrogen, and methane, they have different levels of these elements in the atmospheres; Neptune’s, “hydrogen, 80 percent; helium, 19.0 percent; methane, 1.5 percent” (Choi). “The overall composition of Uranus is, by mass, thought to be about 25 percent rock, 60 to 70 percent ice, and 5 to 15 percent hydrogen and helium.” (Choi). Some of the features Neptune and Uranus have been very similar.
Neptune and Uranus are both gas giants and have rings. They both have a blue-ish color because of the upper layer of the atmosphere absorbs red light from the sun and reflects the blue light. Both Neptune and Uranus are very windy. Neptune and Uranus both have atmospheres divided into lateral bands. The core of both of the planets is made up of hot, have dense water, ammonia, and methane. Both contain two layers, which are the core and the mantle. The mantels of the two planets are, “…mostly made of a very thick, sweltering combination of water(H2O), ammonia(NH3), and methane(CH4) over a possible heavier, Earth-sized, solid core” (Neptune: Overview). There are also some contrasting features between Neptune and Uranus. Neptune has fourteen moons, Triton, Nereid, Proteus, Thalassa, Larissa, Psamathe, Galatea, Despina, Halimede, Naiad, Neso, Laomedeia, Sao, and S/2004 N1. Uranus has 27 moons, Miranda, Titania, Ariel, Oberon, Umbriel, Puck, Belinda, Cupid, Ophelia, Cordelia, Bianca, Juliet, Mab, Portia, Rosalind, Perdita, Cressida, Desdémona, Sycorax, Setebos, Trinculo, Próspero, Margaret, Francisco, Ferdinand, Caliban, and Stephano. Neptune only has five rings, and Uranus has 13, the rings of Neptune are hardly visible while Uranus’ are somewhat prominent. Uranus is a lighter color of blue than Neptune, and sometimes Uranus can have greenish colored bands. Neptune and Uranus both have such intense gravity
that it would crush a human being, but Neptune has the stronger gravity of 11.15 meters per second, ( Uranus:8.69 meters per second) the strongest gravitational pull in our Solar System. As well as with the strongest gravitational pull, Neptune also has the strongest wind of the planets in the Solar System. The wind of Neptune is 1,300 miles per an hour, and Uranus’ is 560 miles per hour, Neptune has more than double the amount of wind speed than Uranus. Lastly the occurrences of the two planets, Uranus, and Neptune, are comparable.
One of the shared occurrences both Uranus and Neptune have been the pass by of Voyager 2. Of course at different times, for Uranus, it was January 24, 1986, and for Neptune, it was August 25, 1989. Both Uranus and Neptune orbit the sun, but they both take different amounts of time to do so. Neptune takes approximately 165 Earth years to make one complete orbit while Uranus takes circa eighty-four Earth years to make an orbit around the sun. So Uranus can almost make two full orbits before Neptune makes one. The names of the moons of Uranus and Neptune were uniquely picked out. These names, however, were chosen based on different things Neptune’s moons were named after sea nymphs, while, “Uranus’ moons named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope” (Uranus: Overview). The names of sea nymphs do not apply to Neptune’s latterly found moon S/2004 N1, which is yet to be named. Neptune and Uranus were both discovered, but at different times and by different people. Uranus was discovered first on March 13, 1781, by Sir William Herschel; he had thought at first that Uranus was a comet, but later found out that it was a planet. Upon the naming Herschel tried to name the planet after King George III, but Johann Bode’s suggestion of Uranus after the Greek deity Ouranos was chosen instead. Neptune was ’found’ in 1864, almost a decade later. Neptune, in fact, was a
predicted planet by two astronomers Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams, who used mathematics to determine the location of Neptune. Since all the other planets were named after Greek gods, Neptune was as well. An odd occurrence that Neptune and Uranus share are seasons; this is because of the tilt of the two planets. The seasons take years to change, roughly twenty years for Uranus and forty for Neptune. Evidence of this was found because of the brightening of some of the bands on Neptune and Uranus. This exhibits that there is more sun on one part of the planet than the other, which means that the two planets have seasons. Although these seasons are not as profound as those on Earth. Since the light on Uranus is one four hundredth that of Earth’s, and Neptune only around one thousandth. Both Uranus and Neptune have a tilt, but Uranus is believed to have its tilt for a different reason. According to some theorists the reason to why Uranus is on its side is because of, “…some manner of violent impact knocked Uranus off kilter.” (Choi). Others speculate that Uranus was struck by a multitude of smaller impacts during the duration of the formation of the planet. Neptune and Uranus can be compared like siblings. The planets share similarities, but also have differences as well. These similarities are broad and have different details with both of the planets. Some contradictions in the correspondences are minuscule, the data is meant to deviate, being downright separately formed planets in this great expanse of the universe. However, by even saying that the planets are similarly formed in the same universe, the same galaxy, and in the same solar system. Data found about the two planets is not exactly precise, but instead mathematical predictions and these two sets of data are comparable. That being said the data is also contrast-able as well. Some features have become visible by the Voyager 2, thanks to the pictures it has taken. Features are not always so visible, though when it comes to the wind on the two planets and some of the hard-to-see rings. Occurrences, on the other hand, are definite. Occurrences can be dated or hypothesized, but are otherwise something that isn’t physically a part of the planet; but rather something humans have made up to identify a thing or explain/date a situation. “Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.” (Einstein). All of this information on Neptune and Uranus connect and then disconnect. However, overall the information ties together in the sense that it is humans trying to explain unreachable planets so far with today’s technology; by using complex math and predictions to explain the unknown, the uncharted. Humans have always been curious creatures, and facts that we create for Neptune and Uranus correspond in some ways for a reason. Because to humans, the two planets do in fact look similar, but what if we reach them, and there are no actual similarities and the predictions that we have made about the two planets are wrong? However, then again, the information could be accurate all the same, just like siblings.