In our solar system, there are 9 major celestial bodies excluding the Sun: the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus , Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto. Each planet has its own special characteristics and its own list of orbiting satellites. The main focus of this report will be Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and their moons. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun (Uranus). It is the third largest in diameter (Uranus). The name Uranus comes from the Greek god of the heavens (Uranus). William Hershel discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781, making it the first planet discovered in modern times (Uranus). It had previously been seen in many different accounts only to be dismissed as another star (Uranus). The first sighting of Uranus occurred in 1690 when John Flamsteed listed it as 34 Tauri (Uranus). The planet was originally called "Georgium Sidus" and Hershel before it was officially named Uranus by Bode (Brewer 9). Uranus is tilted on its axis 98 degrees to the Sun (Facts about Uranus). It is said to "roll" around the Sun (Uranus Facts). The mass is 8,681 x 1025 kg, which is 14,536 times more massive than the Earth (Uranus Facts). Uranus' polar diameter is 49,946 km, equatorial diameter is 51,118 km, and equatorial circumference is 159,354 (Uranus Facts). Uranus is substantially farther from the Sun than Earth, with an orbital distance of 19.22 AU (2.87 x 109 km) and an orbital period of 30,687.15 Earth days or 84.02 Earth years (Uranus Facts). Uranus is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, making it a gas giant (Uranus Facts). The surface is a surprisingly frigid -197°C and the atmosphere reaches a low of -224°C, making Uranus the coldest planet in the Solar System (Uranus Facts). The planet's top layer is a mixture of hydrogen and helium, with its mantle made mostly of ice, surrounding a core of rock and ice (Uranus Facts). Uranus' atmosphere contains 83% hydrogen, 15% helium, and 2% methane (Uranus). Water, ammonia, and methane in the atmosphere give Uranus its pale blue color (Uranus Facts). Uranus has 13 rings – discovered over the course of 28 years – made up of small particles ranging from the size of dust to small boulders (Uranus Rings). The first 9 were discovered on March 10, 1977 by Edward W. Duncan, James L. Elliot and Douglas J. Mink (Rings of Uranus). The next two were discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986, and the last two by the Hubble Space Telescope between the years 2003 and 2005 (Rings of Uranus). The names are, in order from closest to farthest, 1986U2R/zeta (?), 6, 5, 4, alpha (a), beta (ß), eta (?), gamma (?), delta (d) , lambda (?), epsilon (e), nu (?), and mu (μ) (Rings of Uranus). The radii of the rings range from 38,000 km of 1986U2R/zeta to 98,000 km of mu (Uranus Rings). The rings were probably formed when one or more of Uranus' moons were destroyed in a collision about 600 million years ago (Uranus Rings). The closest contact we have had with Uranus was when Voyager 2 passed by on January 24, 1986, which gave us most of the information we know to date about the planet (Uranus). Currently, a mission to Uranus has been proposed and is scheduled to launch between 2020 and 2023 (Uranus Orbiter and Probe). The spacecraft is expected to use solar-electric propulsion as a means of power, making a journey of approximately 13 years (Uranus Orbiter and Probe). Uranus currently has 27 known satellites (Uranus Facts). All of its moons are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope (Uranus Facts). The moons we will talk aboutthey are Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Stephano, Sycorax, Prospero, Codelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, S/1968 U10 and Setebo. Stephen Synnott discovered Puck in 1986 from Voyager 2 (Uranus) data. The moon orbits 86,006 km from Uranus (Uranus). Puck is part of the ten innermost moons of Uranus (Uranus). Its diameter is 154 km, or about 90 miles, or an hour and a half drive at highway speed (Uranus). Puck's average orbital speed is 540,353.94 km/h (solar system exploration). Its mass, despite being relatively small for a celestial body, is 2,894 x 1018 kg and has a volume of 2,226,095 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). As for gravitational statistics, Puck's surface gravity is a whopping 0.029 m/s2 and has a universe-warping escape velocity of about 155 mph (solar system exploration)! Puck was originally called S/1985 U1, but was later renamed to match the theme of other moon names from the literary works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope (Solar System Exploration). Puck was a mischievous fairy from Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (Exploration of the Solar System). Gerard P. Kuiper discovered Miranda, the daughter of Shakespeare's Prospero from “The Tempest,” on February 16, 1948; however, like every moon of Uranus, almost nothing was known until the Voyager 2 flyby in the mid-1980s (Solar System Exploration). Miranda has a diameter of approximately 472 km, an orbital radius of 129,850 km, an average orbital velocity of 24,067.7 km/h and a mass of 6.6 x 1019 kg (solar system exploration). Miranda's volume is 54,918,670 km3 (solar system exploration). Its escape velocity is 432 mph and surface gravity is 0.079 m/s2 (solar system exploration). Miranda is made up of half silicate rock and half water ice (Uranus). For an extraterrestrial body as small as Miranda, there is an abnormally large amount of tectonic activity on its surface (solar system exploration). There are three “coronae,” or large structures, on the Moon, one of which is 12 times deeper than the Grand Canyon (Solar System Exploration). There are two possible explanations for Miranda's terrain, the least likely being that the moon was torn apart and chaotically reassembled multiple times (Uranus). The other theory suggests that the coronas are the impact zones of metallic and/or rocky meteorite collisions, which melted ice beneath the surface, resulting in muddy water that rose to Miranda's surface and refreezes (Exploring the Solar System) . William Lassell discovered Ariel, named after the airy, mischievous ghost in “The Tempest,” on October 24, 1851; however it was named after Sir William Hershel's son, Sir John Hershel (Exploration of the Solar System). The mass of the Moon is approximately 1.27 x 1021 kg and the diameter is 1,158 km (Uranus). Ariel's orbital radius is 190,930 km and the average orbital speed is 19,832.3 km/h (solar system exploration). The Moon's surface gravity is 0.258 m/s2, accompanied by an escape velocity of 1,222 mph (solar system exploration). Of the largest moons orbiting Uranus, Ariel is not only the brightest, but is also believed to have the youngest surface (Solar System Exploration). Despite having the brightest surface, it reflects no more than a third of the sunlight that hits it, suggesting that its surface has been darkened by carbon materials (Solar System Exploration). Its surface is a mixture of small craters and a vast system of connected valleys up to hundreds of km long (Uranus). It is thought that Ariel was once very hot, causing heavier elements to sink towards the core and lighter elementsfloated on the surface (Exploration of the Solar System). This would also explain the spots on the surface, which would have been the result of the moon (Uranus) freezing. Of all the largest moons of Uranus, Umbriel is the darkest (Exploring the Solar System). Only 16% of the sunlight that hits it is reflected (Exploration of the Solar System). The surface is heavily cratered, which perhaps contributes to making it so faint (Uranus). William Lassell discovered the moon on October 24, 1851 (Exploration of the solar system). It takes its name from a character in Alexander Popela's “The Rape of Lock” (Uranus). Umbriel has a diameter of approximately 1,170 km, follows an orbit that is 25,980 km from Uranus and carries an average orbital velocity of 16,804.6 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). The mass of the Moon is approximately 1.2214 x 1021 kg and the volume is 837,313,109 km3 (solar system exploration). Umbriel's surface gravity is approximately 0.238 m/s2, with an escape velocity of 1,181 mph (solar system exploration). Titania is named after the Fairy Queen in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Uranus). Sir William Hershel discovered the moon on January 11, 1787 (Exploration of the Solar System). Titania is the largest of Uranus' moons, with a diameter of 1,578 km (Uranus). Its orbital radius is 436,300 km and it maintains an average orbital speed of 13,120 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). Titania's mass is approximately 3.49 x 1021 kg (Uranus). Its surface gravity is 0.367 m/s2 and its escape velocity is approximately 1,701 mph (solar system exploration). The 2,056,622,001 km3 of Titania (Exploration of the Solar System). The Moon's surface is quite similar to that of Ariel, having a large collection of craters and an impressive length of valleys, with a couple nearly 1,600 miles long (Exploration of the Solar System). One possible theory that could explain Titania's surface is that the moon was hot enough to be in liquid form until the surface cooled, then cracked when the core subsequently solidified and expanded (Uranus). Oberon, the fairy king of “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” was once again a discovery of Sir William Herschel (Exploration of the Solar System). It was discovered in January 1787 (Exploration of the Solar System). Like virtually every moon of Uranus, most of the information known about Oberon comes from the Voyager 2 flyby in 1986 (Solar System Exploration). Oberon is the second largest moon of Uranus, just behind Titania (Solar System Exploration). The Moon is composed of 40-50% frozen water and the rest of rock (Uranus). Compared to other larger moons, such as Ariel, Miranda and Titania, Oberon is heavily cratered (solar system exploration). The Southern Hemisphere is also characterized by large faults that indicate geologic activity in the early life of Oberon (Uranus). The Moon also has at least one large mountain about 6 km high (Exploration of the Solar System). Oberon is just smaller than Titania in size, with a diameter of 1,523 km and a mass of 3.03 x 1021 kg (Uranus). The average orbital radius of the Moon around Uranus is 583,500 km and its average orbital velocity is 11,349.2 km/h (solar system exploration). The volume of Oberon is 1,848,958,769 km3 (solar system exploration). The Moon's surface gravity is 0.332 m/s2 and its escape velocity is approximately 1,590 mph (solar system exploration). On September 6 and 7, 1997, a pair of brothers were looking through a 200-inch Hale telescope and discovered Caliban (Uranus). The band of brothers included Brett Gladman, Phil Nicholson, Joseph Burns and JJ Kavelaars, although credit goes mostly to Brett Gladman (Uranus). Caliban wasoriginally called S/1997 U 1, but was later changed to match the theme of the other moons of Uranus (Uranus). It ended up being named after Prospero's wild and deformed servant from Shakespeare's “The Tempest” (Uranus). Caliban is unique because it orbits Uranus in the opposite direction of other regular moons (solar system exploration). It also orbits at an unusually greater distance from Uranus, sometimes reaching 10 times the distance of Oberon, the most distant regular moon (Exploring the Solar System). Evidence also points to the possibility that Caliban was an independent celestial body captured by Uranus' gravity (solar system exploration). Like most irregular moons, Caliban is most likely a captured asteroid (Uranus). Based on its rock-ice composition and unusual red color, it is believed to have moved away from the Kuiper Belt (Uranus). Caliban's orbit has an incredible 7.2 million km radius but an average orbital speed of 3,238.5 km/h (Uranus). Caliban's size is based on its apparent brightness, which is assumed to be an albedo of 0.04 or 7% (solar system exploration). So, using this assumption as a basis, the diameter is approximately 72 km, a volume of 195,432 km3, and a mass of approximately 2.9973 x 1017 kg (solar system exploration). As for gravitational statistics, surface gravity is about 0.015 m/s2 and has an Earth-shattering escape velocity of 75 mph (solar system exploration). Stephano was discovered on July 18, 1999 by the same man who discovered Caliban, Brett Gladman (Solar System Exploration). It was discovered along with two other moons, Setebos and Prospero, making it part of the Uranus (Uranus) group of “new moons”. Stephano, like most of Uranus' other irregular moons, is very similar to Caliban in composition, name, location origin, and orbital characteristics (solar system exploration). It was originally called S/1999 U2, but was later named after King Alonso's rowdy alcoholic butler in "The Tempest" (Exploration of the Solar System). It orbits in the opposite direction of the regular moons and at an absurdly large distance from Uranus (solar system exploration). Stephano's orbit around Uranus has a huge radius of about 8 million km (Exploration of the Solar System). Its average orbital speed is 3,054.9 km/h (solar system exploration). Stephano's diameter is only 32 km, with an equatorial circumference of 100.5 microscopic celestial km (Exploration of the Solar System). The mass is approximately 2.55 x 1016 kg and has a volume of only 17,157 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). Stephano's surface gravity is 0.007 m/s2 and it has an escape velocity of 33.5 mph (solar system exploration). Sycorax is Caliban's twin, as they were both discovered on the same date and he has the same father, Brett Gladman (Uranus). S/1997 U 2 was its original name, but was later changed to the name of the witch of "The Tempest" (Uranus). Sycorax is very similar to Caliban in that they rotate opposite to Uranus' normal moons, have the same apparent brightness, and are both composed of rocks and ice (Uranus). Both also have an unusually colorful, red surface, perhaps indicating that they formally inhabit the Kuiper Belt (Uranus). The irregular moon has a diameter of 150 km, just over double that of Caliban, and an orbital radius of 12.2 million km (Uranus). The average orbital speed is approximately 2,297 km/h (exploration of the solar system). Sycorax has a mass of 2,698 x 1018 kg and a volume of 1.77 x 106 km3 (solar system exploration). The Moon's surface gravity is 0.032 m/s2 and has an escape velocity of 155 mph (solar system exploration). Prospero was discovered by the same groupand in the same observation by Stephano and Setebo on 18 July 1999 (Uranus). It was originally called S/1999 U3, but its name was later changed to that of the sorcerer "The Tempest" (Solar Exploration). Prospero shares orbital characteristics with its other irregular moons, such as the direction of rotation, which indicates that it may come from the Kuiper Belt; however, unlike other irregular moons, it is gray in color, at odds with its origin in the Kuiper Belt (solar system exploration). Similar to all recently discovered irregular moons, Prospero has an abnormally large orbital radius (Uranus). Its orbital distance from Uranus is approximately 16.3 million km and it has a slow average orbital velocity of 2,043.2 km/h (solar system exploration). Its mass is 9.89 x 1016 kg and the volume is 65,450 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). The surface gravity is very weak, 0.011 m/s2, and the escape velocity is only 52 mph (solar system exploration). Cordelia is the innermost of all known satellites of Uranus (Uranus). It is named after Lear's daughter in “King Lear,” a play by Shakespeare (Uranus). Voyager 2 discovered this during its flyby of Uranus on January 20, 1986 (Uranus). It also appears to limit Uranus's epsilon ring through its gravitational forces (Uranus). Its surface is thought to be composed of unprocessed dark carbon material (solar system exploration). Cordelia's orbital radius is approximately 49,800 km and it maintains an average orbital velocity of 38,918.2 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). Like Puck, Cordelia has an assumed albedo of 0.07, which is the basis of its predicted diameter of about 40 km (Solar System Exploration). Its mass and volume are 4,496 x 1016 kg and 34,015 km3 (solar system exploration). Surface gravity is only 0.007 m/s2 and escape velocity is a slow 39 mph (solar system exploration). Ophelia is part of the ten innermost moons to which Puck and Cordelia belong, and was also discovered by Voyager 2 (Solar System Exploration). Ophelia is named after the daughter of Polonius in William Shakespeare's famous "Hamlet" (Uranus). Ophelia and Cordelia both appear to be shepherd moons (moons that bind a planetary ring with its gravitational forces) of the epsilon ring (Uranus). Ophelia's orbital size is slightly larger than Cordelia's, at 53,800 km (Solar System Exploration). The average orbital speed is 37,458.7 km/h (solar system exploration). Ophelia has a mass of 5,395 x 1016 kg and a volume of 41,052 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). On the Moon's surface, the gravity is just 0.001 greater than Cordelia's at 0.008 m/s2, and it has an escape velocity of 41 mph (Exploring the Solar System). Bianca is another of the ten inner moons of Uranus discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986 (Uranus). Named after Katherine's sister in "The Taming of the Shrew" (Uranus). In reality, very little is known about Bianca, except for its orbital characteristics (Exploration of the Solar System). What we know about its physical attributes and composition are only guesses based on Puck's physical attributes and composition (Exploring the Solar System). Bianca's orbital radius around Uranus is approximately 59,200 km and its average orbital speed is 35,628.8 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). The diameter of the Moon is approximately 44 km, the volume is 71,103 km3 and the mass is approximately 9.29 x 1016 kg (solar system exploration). The gravity on the surface is calculated to be 0.009 m/s2 and the escape velocity is 49 mph (solar system exploration). Cressida is another of the ten inner moons of Uranus (Uranus). In Shakespeare's “Troilus and Cressida”, Cressida is the daughter of Calchas (Uranus). The moon was discovered, along with theten more innermost moons, from Voyager 2 in 1986 (Uranus). Like Bianca, very little is known about her makeup or physical attributes; however, the dimensions and orbital characteristics are known (Exploration of the Solar System). The albedo is known, however, and gives an idea of ​​what the surface is like, which could be a dark, carbon-rich substance (Solar System Exploration). Cressida has a diameter of approximately 66 km (Uranus). The distance at which the Moon orbits Uranus is approximately 61,800 km, its average orbital speed is 34,869 km/h and its volume is 264,081 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). The mass is approximately 3.43 x 1017 kg, the surface gravity is 0.014 m/s2, and the escape velocity is approximately 76 mph (solar system exploration). Desdemona is another of the ten inner moons of Uranus (Exploration of the Solar System). Desdemona appears in William Shakespeare's “Othello” and is Othello's wife (Uranus). It was discovered, together with the other innermost moons, in 1986 by Voyager 2 (Uranus). Its diameter is 58 km and it orbits 62,659 km from Uranus (Uranus). The average orbital speed is 34,630.4 km/h and the mass is 1,783 x 1017 kg (Exploration of the Solar System). Surface gravity is 0.012 m/s2 and escape velocity is 61 mph (solar system exploration). Juliet is another of the innermost satellites of Uranus (Uranus). The moon is named after the famous tragic heroine of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" (Uranus). It was also one of the moons discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986 (Uranus). Like most of the other nine innermost moons, very little is known, other than its size and orbital characteristics (Solar System Exploration). The diameter of the Moon is 84 km and the orbital radius is approximately 64,358 km (Uranus). Juliet's mass is 5.575 x 1017 kg and volume is 429.365 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). The average orbital velocity is approximately 34,198.5 km/h, surface gravity is 0.017 m/s2, and escape velocity is approximately 90 mph (solar system exploration). Portia, another of Uranus' ten innermost moons, is named after the wealthy heiress of the "Merchant of Venice" (Uranus). Voyager 2 discovered it in 1986, along with the other ten inner moons (Uranus). It is one of the largest minor moons of Uranus with a diameter of 140 km (Exploration of the Solar System). However, very little is known about its composition (Uranus). Portia is a fast-moving moon; completing an orbit around Uranus takes less than one Earth day (solar system exploration). The moon Portia orbits Uranus at a distance of 66,100 km at an average speed of 33,732.8 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). The mass of the satellite is 1,682 x 1018 kg and the volume is approximately 1,293,983 km3 (Exploration of the Solar System). The gravity on Portia's surface is about 0.025 m/s2 and it has an escape velocity of about 129 mph (Solar System Exploration). Rosalind, number eight of the ten inner moons of Uranus, is the daughter of the exiled duke in “As You Like It” by the famous William Shakespeare (Uranus). Very little is known about anything about the Moon, except its size and orbital statistics (solar system exploration). Rosalind has a diameter of approximately 72 km and a volume of 195,432 km3 (solar system exploration). The mass is approximately 2.548 x 1017 kg, the surface gravity is 0.013 m/s2, and the escape velocity is approximately 69 mph (solar system exploration). Rosalind's orbital diameter is approximately 69,900 km and it maintains an average orbital velocity of 32,795.3 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). Belinda is number nine on the list of ten innermost moons of Uranus (Uranus). Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986, it is named after Alexander Pope's heroine in "The Rape of the Keyhole" (Uranus). Its diameter is approximately 80 km and its mass is approximately 3,567 x 1017 kg (Exploration of the Solar System).It orbits at a distance of 75,300 km from Uranus at an average speed of 31,592 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). Its escape velocity is approximately 77 mph and its surface gravity is 0.015 m/s2 (solar system exploration). Our column says to look for the moon Uranus S/1968 U10 but MR. VINING'S DYSLEXIA KNOCKED US OUT! What he meant to put was S/1986 U10, which would make more sense, since that is the Perdita (Common Sense) moon. Perdita was originally discovered in 1986 along with the other Voyager 2 moons, but was not recognized as a moon until 13 years later, on May 18, 1999, when Erich Karkoschka of the University of Arizona found it in Voyager 2 images and compared them with the images. taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (exploration of the solar system). It is named after the daughter of Hermoine and Leontes from Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" (Exploration of the Solar System). Perdita is almost identical in orbit to Belinda (orbital radius of 75,300 km) with an orbital radius of 76,400 km (solar system exploration). Perdita's mass is currently unknown, as are its gravitational force and escape velocity; however, its average orbital speed is known to be 31,356.2 km/h (solar system exploration). Setebo is part of the group of small, irregular moons recently discovered on July 18, 1999 by Brett Gladman (Uranus). The moons discovered along with it were Prospero and Stephano (Uranus). Like Prospero and Stefano, Setebo orbits in the opposite direction of ordinary moons (solar system exploration). Setebos is named after a Patagonian deity that Shakespeare interpreted for the god that Sycorax and Caliban worshiped in "The Tempest" (Exploration of the Solar System). Setebo's diameter is just about 48km, with a volume of 57,906 km3 (Solar System Exploration). The mass is 8.692 x 1016 kg, which gives it a surface gravity of 0.010 m/s2 and an escape velocity of 49 mph (Solar System Exploration). Setebo's orbit has a radius of 17.4 million km from Uranus with an average speed of 1,857 km/h (Exploration of the Solar System). Neptune, named after the Roman god of the sea, is the eighth planet from the sun (Neptune). When astronomers noticed that the orbit of Uranus was not as it should be, they predicted that there must be a more distant planet disturbing the orbit of Uranus (Neptune). This ice giant was the first planet found through calculations rather than observations (Solar System Exploration). The first time Neptune was observed was on September 23, 1846 by 2 astronomers named Galle and d'Arrest (Neptune). Surprisingly, the planet was very close to the positions predicted by Adams and Le Verrier, who predicted its position from the observed positions of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus (Neptune). Neptune is currently unexplored with modern spacecraft instrumentation. For this reason, everything we know about Neptune has been gleaned from clever calculations and careful observations (Agnor 2). Neptune is 4.5 billion kilometers, or 2.8 billion miles, from the Sun and takes 165 years to orbit the sun just once (Neptune). One day on this planet is equivalent to 16.1 hours on Earth. This distance is equivalent to 30.06 AU from the sun. With an equatorial diameter of 49,532 km and a mass of 1.0247 x 1026 kg, this gas giant is approximately 3.9 times larger than Earth and also has 17 times the mass (Neptune). 150 pounds on Earth would be equivalent to about 169 pounds on the surface of Neptune (the outer planets). Neptune also has a magnetic field that is about 27 times stronger than Earth's magnetic field (Solar System Exploration). This magnetic field is tilted approximately 47 degrees to the planet's rotation axis (solar system exploration). Due to this tilt, Neptune's magnetosphere undergoesvariations during each rotation (Exploration of the Solar System). Although they are not very obvious, Neptune also has 6 known rings (Exploring the Solar System). Voyager 2 images showed that these rings are complete and contain bright clumps while observations from Earth show only faint arcs instead of complete rings (Neptune). Since Neptune is a gas giant, most of its size is due to its massive atmosphere. This atmosphere extends to enormous depths that eventually melt into water and other melted ice, which sits on top of a heavier solid core, approximately the size of Earth (Solar System Exploration). The composition of the planet is most likely similar to that of Uranus (Neptune). It contains various ices and rocks, an Earth-sized solid core made of rocky material, and an atmosphere composed primarily of hydrogen and helium with small amounts of methane (Neptune). Due to many similarities, Neptune is called the sister planet of Uranus (solar system exploration). Another one of these similarities would be the color. Neptune is a more vivid blue because, while both planets have methane that absorbs red light and emits a blue-green color, Neptune must have an unknown component that is changing the color to this blue. (Exploration of the solar system). One strange feature that makes Neptune unique would be its uncommon wind speed (The outer planets). In the upper atmosphere, these winds tip the scales with a common speed of 750 mph and a maximum of about 1000 mph (The outer planets). Although these wind speeds are incredibly high, they most likely would not turn a windmill because the gas density at this altitude is very low (The outer planets). Because Neptune is far from the sun, scientists don't think the energy source powering these storms could be just the sun (the outer planets). They believe that this energy is generated within the planet (The Outer Planets). Observations from Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to travel by Neptune, have shown that it radiates twice as much energy from the core as it receives from the sun, which is the highest ratio of heat production to input of any planet in the solar system (the outer planets). This heat is believed to come from radioactive decay and other chemical processes within the planet (the outer planets). Another theory is that the planet is still forming and that the infalling gases release heat as they are compacted by gravity (The Outer Planets). This theory could explain the strange cloud patterns observed on Neptune (the outer planets). A strange phenomenon that occurs on Neptune is its great dark spot, which is a storm larger than Earth and with wind speeds of about 1,000 miles per hour. (The outer planets). Strangely, this storm appears and disappears without warning and also moves in unpredictable patterns (The Outer Planets). Furthermore, these storms vary in size over very short periods of time (The Outer Planets). These storms are thought to be caused by an instability in the atmosphere and its winds, which could help explain its unpredictable movement (The Outer Planets). Neptune, like many other outer planets, has many moons. All the moons around Neptune are named after characters in Greek or Roman mythology associated with Neptune or Poseidon or the oceans (solar system exploration). The irregular satellites around Neptune are named after the Nereids, who are the daughters of Nereus and Doris and Neptune's assistants (solar system exploration). One of these moons around Neptune is called Larissa. This moon is named after a nymph 0.07