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Who is credited with discovering Neptune?

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Clouds in Neptune's atmosphere — Neptune A photograph of clouds in Neptune's atmosphere, taken by Voyager 2 in August 1989. The view is from below the planet's equator, and north is up. The Great Dark Spot (center left) is 13,000 km (8,100 miles)—about the diameter of Earth—in its longer dimension. Accompanying it are bright, wispy clouds thought to comprise methane ice crystals. At higher southern latitudes lies a smaller, eye-shaped dark spot with a light core (bottom left). Just above that spot is a bright cloud dubbed Scooter. Each of these cloud features was seen to travel eastward but at a different rate, the Great Dark Spot moving the slowest.

The discovery of Neptune was a collaborative achievement involving both mathematical prediction and observational confirmation.

While the German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle and his assistant Heinrich Louis d’Arrest were the first individuals to visually identify the planet on September 23, 1846, the credit for its discovery is generally shared between the mathematicians Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier and John Couch Adams.312

Both men independently calculated the existence and probable position of an unknown planet to explain the irregular orbital motions of Uranus. Le Verrier’s specific calculations led directly to the successful telescopic search at the Berlin Observatory, while Adams had performed similar work earlier in Britain. Although historical analysis suggests Adams's contribution may have been less substantial than once believed, the scientific community eventually recognized both men for their roles in the discovery.312