The Week of Neptune

While many are focused on the weather phenomena occurring here on Earth, some are looking into space as Neptune steals this week’s spotlight. This past Monday, August 25th, was the 25th anniversary of the Voyager 2’s flyby of Neptune. The Voyager 2 gave us the very first glimpse of what is now the most distant planet in our solar system.

25 years ago today, NASA’s #Voyager 2 mission made the first (and only) close-up encounter with #Neptune. pic.twitter.com/q6D4VwQNiP

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) August 25, 2014

Here are Neptune and Triton as seen by Voyager 2. Cool, yes? http://t.co/xj9WVLkUZq pic.twitter.com/yfHLnkD0pY — EarthSky (@earthskyscience) August 25, 2014

25 years ago, @NASAVoyager 2 gave humanity its 1st glimpse of Neptune in the summer of 1989 http://t.co/87qEMcU5cI pic.twitter.com/NO9lfTH1Yw

— NASA (@NASA) August 25, 2014

Not only is Neptune celebrating its silver anniversary with Voyager 2, the planet will also reach opposition on Friday. The Capital Weather Gang wrote a recent article on the subject. Here is what they had to say:

In astronomical terms, opposition simply means that the planet is opposite to the sun, from Earth’s perspective. The sun, Earth and Neptune form a straight line. Think of it as a “full” Neptune, like you would think of a full moon. (When the moon is full, it is opposite the sun from our earthly vantage point.)

Neptune is on a 164-year orbit around the sun, so the planet has not been in its current location since 1850. What is even more “out of this world” is that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft crossed Neptune’s orbit this past Monday, a great commemoration of the Voyager 2’s anniversary.

As @NASANewHorizons crosses Neptune’s orbit while Pluto-bound, Neptune is seen in the distance http://t.co/pFyhyRWq8n pic.twitter.com/22Y0hGi4uZ — NASA (@NASA) August 25, 2014

For more information about the New Horizons spacecraft, be sure to check out NASA’s website.