Facts

Fascinating Facts About Neptune

Neptune is the farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System.

Neptune was discovered in 1846 by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle using a telescope.

It takes Neptune 165 earth years to circle the sun.

There are two “Great Dark Spots” on Neptune where storms can rage for several months and even several years.

Storms on Neptune can almost reach supersonic flow. With wind speeds of up to 764 miles per hour (1,230 Kilometers per hour), Neptune has the heaviest storms in the solar system.

The existence of Neptune was mathematically predicted before the planet was directly observed, based on the orbit of Uranus.

The blue color of Neptune is due to the methane in the atmosphere, which mainly consists of hydrogen and helium.

Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea because of its blue appearance.

Neptune, Saturn and Venus are the names of three seaside resorts in Romania.

The “Voyager 2” spacecraft was the only one that has ever flown to Neptune. It approached the planet up to 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers).

Although Neptune is a gas planet, the core of the planet, which is roughly the size of the Earth, is made of rock.

At -235 degrees Celsius, the coldest temperature in our solar system to date was measured on the Neptune moon Triton.

Neptune’s magnetic field is about 27 times as strong as that of Earth.

The gravity of Neptune is just 14 percent higher than the gravity on Earth.

While Saturn has long been known for its rings, the ring systems around the gas planets Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune were first discovered in the 1970s.

Triton, the largest of Neptune’s 14 moons, was discovered just 17 days after the planet was first sighted.

Neptune is 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the sun. It took the “Voyager 2” spacecraft twelve years to reach the planet.