The NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings (pictured).

NASA

American space and aeronautics agency

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for…

Voyager 2

NASA space probe launched in 1977

Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, as a part of the Voyager program. It was launched on a trajectory towards the gas giants and enabled further encounters with the ice giants. The only spacecraft to have visited either of the ice giant planets, it…

Neptune

Eighth planet from the Sun

Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet orbiting the Sun. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times the mass of Earth. Compared to Uranus, its neighbouring ice giant,…

Rings of Neptune

The rings of Neptune consist primarily of five principal rings. They were first discovered by simultaneous observations of a stellar occultation on 22 July 1984 by Patrice Bouchet, Reinhold Häfner and Jean Manfroid at the La Silla Observatory (ESO) who were conducting a star…