Neptune is the eighth planet in our solar system and is also known as the third most massive planet in our solar system .Isn't that AMAZING! Neptune was also discovered on September 23, 1946 by Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest. Did you know that Neptune was the first planet to get its existence predicted by mathematical calculations before it was seen by a telescope.
In Roman mythology Neptune was named after the Greek god Poseidon who was god of the sea. Neptune can also be recognized by its Great Dark Spot on the left of its southern hemisphere.
On August 25, 1989 Neptune was explored by the spacecraft Voyager 2 and it retured to Earth on August 25,1989. The goals for Voyager 2 were to collect 10,000 images, do spectrometric analysis, and for it travel outside the planet. In the mission we found out new information like Neptune's highly inclined magnetosphere, explored six satellites, found out some Auroral Zones, and dicovered 2 new rings circling the planet. We also found out that storms happen in the Great Red Spot. Neptune's composition is probably similar to Uranus because they both have various "ices" and rock with about 15% hydrogen and a little helium. Neptune is a gaseous planet, mainly made up of hydrogen, helium, and methane. Fun Fact!!!! Did you know that Neptune's day lasts 16 hours in Earth's time and its year lasts 165 Earth day. Gravity on Neptune is actually pretty similar to Earth with only a 17 percent difference. That means that if you weigh 70 pounds (32 kg) on Earth, you would weigh 78.5 pounds (36 kg) on Neptune.
Neptune has 13 moons that have been discovered. The biggest of the planet's moons is called Triton, which was discovered in 1846 by the English astronomer William Lassell. His discovery of Triton happened only 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself. Neptune is nearly four times bigger than Earth and Neptune's diameter is about 30,200 miles. Neptune is the stormiest planet in the solar system. The winds there can blow up to 1,240 miles per hour, that is three times as Earth's hurricanes.
Neptune consist of primarily 5 principal rings. There are moons located inside the rings. Neptune's rings are made up of small rocks and dust. The rings are about 40,000 to 63,000km away from Neptune.
Neptune's diameter is 49,500km. The average distance from the sun is 30 Au or 4,503,443,661 km. Neptune doesn't have a solid surface it's mostly gas and ice. Neptune's atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, and methane. If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth you would weigh 112.5lbs. The mass of Neptune is 1.02 X 1026Kg. Neptune"s Average temperature is -200 degrees Celsius.
Radius: 15,299 miles (24,622 km)
Surface area: 2.941 billion sq miles (7.618 billion km²)
Distance from Sun: 2,798,000,000 miles (4,503,000,000 km)
Mass: 102.4E24 kg (17.15 Earth mass)
Radius: 15,299 miles (24,622 km)
Surface area: 2.941 billion sq miles (7.618 billion km²)
Distance from Sun: 2,798,000,000 miles (4,503,000,000 km)
Mass: 102.4E24 kg (17.15 Earth mass)