Discovery of Neptune by calculation
Neptuno descubierto por cálculo
- Date
- 1846 · confidence high
- Place
- Berlin Observatory, Germany
- Credited to
- Urbain Le Verrier (prediction); Johann Galle and Heinrich d'Arrest (observation); John Couch Adams (independent prediction)
- People
- 👤 Johann Gottfried Galle1812–1910👤 John Couch Adams1819–1892👤 Urbain Le Verrier1811–1877
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Anomalies in Uranus's orbit allowed Le Verrier to calculate the position of an unknown planet, which Galle found within 1° on the same night he received the letter. The supreme public triumph of celestial mechanics.
Adams had calculated the position in Cambridge, but Challis did not search diligently; priority became an Anglo-French dispute.
What it led to
- Total confidence in Newtonian gravitation
- Search for Vulcan and Planet X
- Astronomy as a predictive science