Neptune in fiction

Neptune has appeared in fiction since shortly after its 1846 discovery, albeit infrequently. It initially made appearances indirectly—through its inhabitants, for example—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

Neptune was discovered in 1846 and has made only 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", and Richard L. McKinney describes it as "unexplored territory" in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction attributes this in part to its relatively late date of discovery, Brian Stableford writes in Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia that its remote location was a significant factor, and science fiction scholar Gary Westfahl posits in Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia that the presumed-harsh environmental conditions of the planet made it unappealing for writers to use it as a setting.

Early depictions

The first time Neptune was mentioned in a work of fiction—then called "Leverrier's planet" after astronomer Urbain Le Verrier whose orbital calculations led to the planet's discovery—was in the 1848 novel The Triumphs of Woman by Charles Rowcroft, in which an inhabitant of the planet visits Earth. 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.