Neptun

 Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun in our solar system

(opens in new tab). This blue gas giant is far larger than Earth(opens in new tab), at more than 17 times Earth's mass and nearly 58 times Earth's volume, according to NASA. Neptune's rocky core is surrounded by a slushy fluid mix of water, ammonia and methane ice. 

Astronomer Galileo Galilei was one of the first people to identify Neptune as a space object, however he assumed it was a star based on its slow movement. Around two hundred years later, in 1846, French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier calculated the approximate location of Neptune by studying gravity-induced disturbances in the motions of  Uranus according to a synopsis written by researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland

At the same time Le Verrier was calculating the existence of Neptune, so was English astronomer John Couch Adams. The two scholars independently came up with nearly identical mathematical predictions about Neptune's existence. Le Verrier then informed his colleague, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle, about his calculations, and Galle and his assistant Heinrich d'Arrest, confirmed Le Verrier's predictions by viewing and identifying Neptune through the telescope at his observatory in Berlin. 

In accordance with all the other planets seen in the sky, and as suggested by Le Verrier, this new world was given a name from Greek and Roman mythology — Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.

Neptune's Moons

Neptune has 14 known moons, named after lesser sea gods and nymphs from Greek

mythology. The largest by far is Triton whose discovery on Oct. 10, 1846, was indirectly enabled by beer — amateur astronomer William Lassell, who discovered Triton, used the funds he made as a brewer to finance his telescopes.