NEPTUNE
GIANT
Neptune is about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were a large apple, Neptune would be the size of a basketball. EIGHTH WANDERER Neptune orbits our Sun, a star, and is the eighth planet from the Sun at a distance of about 2.8 billion miles. SHORT DAY, LONG YEAR Neptune takes about 16 hours to rotate once, and about 165 Earth years to orbit the Sun. ICE GIANT Neptune is an ice giant. Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of "icy" materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core. GASSY Neptune's atmosphere is made up mostly of molecular hydrogen, atomic helium and methane. MOONS Neptune has 14 known moons which are named after sea gods and nymphs in Greek mythology. FAINT RINGS Neptune has at least five main rings and four more ring arcs, which are clumps of dust and debris likely formed by the gravity of a nearby moon. |
ONE VOYAGE THERE
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune. No spacecraft has orbited this distant planet to study it at length and up close.
LIFELESS
Neptune cannot support life as we know it.
ONE COOL FACT
Because of dwarf planet Pluto’s elliptical orbit, Pluto is sometimes closer to the Sun (and us) than Neptune is.
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune. No spacecraft has orbited this distant planet to study it at length and up close.
LIFELESS
Neptune cannot support life as we know it.
ONE COOL FACT
Because of dwarf planet Pluto’s elliptical orbit, Pluto is sometimes closer to the Sun (and us) than Neptune is.