August 17, 1995
The constellations may be old, but the person celebrating beneath them is gloriously new by cosmic standards.
Neptune: Big Blue Giant
Birthday · August 17, 1995
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APOD published August 17, 1995. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
August 17, 1995 Neptune: Big Blue Giant Credit: NASA, Voyager 2, Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton Explanation: This picture was taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 - the only spacecraft ever to visit Neptune. Neptune will be the farthest planet from the Sun until 1999, when the elliptical orbit of Pluto will cause it to once again resume this status. Neptune, like Uranus, is composed mostly of liquid water, methane and ammonia, is surrounded by a thick gas atmosphere of mostly hydrogen and helium, and has many moons and rings. Neptune's moon Triton is unlike any other and has active volcanoes. The nature of Triton's unusual orbit around Neptune is the focus of much discussion and speculation.