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Universe of the Hubble Space Telescope 2000 Calendar

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun. Neptune was discovered in 1846 by the German astronomer Johann Galle (following calculations by the British astronomer John Adams and the French mathematician Urbain Leverrier) and is the second planet to have been discovered telescopically. The atmosphere of Neptune is made up primarily of hydrogen, helium, and methane. Neptune exhibits remarkable weather patterns, with equatorial winds of speeds up to 900 miles per hour. This image shows bands of clouds that encircle the planet in strips of constant latitude. The image also shows a dark spot at a low latitude, which may be a giant storm that is nearly the size of the entire Earth.