The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
Neptune
In astronomy, a major planet, the eighth planet from the sun. Neptune is named for the Roman god of the sea. Neptune is similar in size and composition to Uranus. It is usually visible only through a telescope and was discovered in the 1840s. For a period ending in 1999, Pluto’s orbit took it inside the orbit of neptune. (Seesolar system; see under “Mythology and Folklore.”)
‡ Some astronomers have suggested that Pluto is not a planet in the usual sense but is an object more like an asteroid, and that Neptune, therefore, is actually the outermost planet.
