Neptune in fiction

Depictions of the planet

Neptune has appeared in fiction since shortly after its 1846 discovery, albeit infrequently. It initially made appearances indirectly—e. g. through its inhabitants—rather than as a setting. The earliest stories set on Neptune itself portrayed it as a rocky planet rather than as having its actual gaseous composition; later works rectified this error. Extraterrestrial life on Neptune is uncommon in fiction, though the exceptions have ranged from humanoids to gaseous lifeforms. Neptune's largest moon Triton has also appeared in fiction, especially in the late 20th century onwards.

Neptune was discovered in 1846 and has only made occasional appearances in fiction since then; in the catalogue of early science fiction works compiled by E. F. Bleiler and Richard Bleiler in the reference works Science Fiction: The Early Years from 1990 and Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years from 1998, Neptune appears in 9 (out of 2,475) and 18 (out of 1,835) works respectively, compared to 194 for Mars in fiction and 131 for Venus in fiction in The Gernsback Years alone. Brian Ash writes in The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction that "Neptune has been largely overlooked in the genre", Neptune was usually omitted in the subgenre of works visiting multiple locations in the Solar System that appeared in this time, though it did make some indirect appearances in works not otherwise set there. In the 1897 short story "The Star" by H. G. Wells, an impact event causes Neptune to turn into a star and puts it on a collision course with Earth. In Robert William Cole's 1900 novel The Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236, described by science fiction scholar E. F. Bleiler as the first space opera and by Westfahl as the first appearance of a galactic empire, the vicinity of Neptune is the site of a battle between the British Empire that has come to rule the Solar System and the forces of a rival empire centered on Sirius. Early works incorrectly depicted Neptune as a solid planet, and several stories thus include human expeditions to its surface. Alien life on Neptune, while uncommon, appears in some stories; The concept of Neptune turning into a star from "The Star" was reused in the 1932 short story "Raiders of the Universes" by Donald Wandrei, although in this case it then proceeds to leave the Solar System rather than heading towards its center. The most significant appearance of Neptune in fiction in this era is in the 1930 novel Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon, In the story, Neptune becomes humanity's refuge in the far future when the Sun expands. This plot point would later reappear in the 1934 short story "Twilight" by John W. Campbell and its 1935 sequel "Night". |width=450px
Once more became known about Neptune through advances in planetary science, fiction writers began portraying it more accurately as a gaseous planet. Gordon Eklund's 1989 novel A Thunder on Neptune is partially set on Triton and features an exobiological expedition to Neptune. In the 1994 novel Neptune Crossing by Jeffrey Carver, an alien on Triton helps humanity avert an impact event.