ASTR 151 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Johann Gottfried Galle
Document Summary
Following the discovery of uranus, astronomers set about charting its orbit and quickly discovered a small discrepancy between the planet"s predicted position and where they actually observed it. They knew that another plant in the solar system was perturbing uranus"s motion. Johann galle found the new planet within one or two degrees of the predicted position. Uranus"s axis of rotation lies almost within that plane-98degrees from the perpendicular. No one knows why, but some scientists have speculated that a catastrophic event, such as a glancing collision between the planet and another planet- sized body during the formative stages of the solar system, might have altered uranus. The increasing amounts of methane are largely responsible for the outer jovian planet"s blue coloration. Methane absorbs long-wavelength red light quite efficiently, so sunlight reflected from the planet"s atmospheres is deficient in red and yellow photons and appears bluish-green or blue.
