Happy New Year (If you’re on Neptune!)
It seems a lot longer, but the planet Neptune was discovered one year ago today.
You may recall hearing about Neptune when you were a child, and you may even have read about it in books from the 19th century, but the fact is it’s only been a year since German astronomer Johann Galle discovered the aquamarine orb out in the hinterland of the solar system.
A Neptunian year, that is.
Galle identified the planet in September 1846. Only now has Neptune returned to the same spot in its wide orbit, taking 164.8 Earth years to complete a single circuit around the sun.