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Below are ten facts about
Neptune and its moons and a table of statistics.
FACT ONE
Neptune's moon, Triton, is slowly getting closer
to Neptune. Eventually, it will get so close that it may get
torn apart by Neptune's gravity and possibly form rings more
spectacular than Saturn's.
FACT TWO
The strongest winds in the Solar System have been recorded on
Neptune, at speeds of up to 2,000 kilometres per hour.
FACT THREE
Neptune has dark spots similar to the Great
Red Spot on
Jupiter. These are areas of high atmospheric pressure which
force clouds of methane gas high up into the atmosphere,
appearing like cirrus (thin, whispy) clouds on Earth. However, these spots
disappear and reappear on different parts of the planet, unlike Jupiter's
spot.
FACT FOUR
Neptune sometimes orbits the Sun further away than Pluto making it the most distant
planet in the Solar System. It returned to its usual
position as the second furthest planet away from the Sun in December 1999.
FACT FIVE
Triton orbits Neptune in the opposite direction to the
planet's rotation. It is the only large moon in the Solar System
to do this.
FACT SIX
Neptune has four faint rings. Some parts of these rings are
brighter in areas than others and appear like arcs orbiting the
planet. Maybe they are still forming.
FACT SEVEN
Since its discovery in 1846, Neptune has completed only one full orbit of the
Sun. In fact, it takes 165 years for the planet to go around
the Sun.
FACT EIGHT
Neptune was discovered when scientists noticed something peculiar
about Uranus' orbit, believing something to be pulling it in the
opposite direction to the Sun's pull
of gravity.
They calculated the position of a planet and soon afterwards,
discovered Neptune.
FACT NINE
The coldest temperatures measured in the Solar
System (-230°c) have been
recorded on Neptune's moon, Triton.
FACT TEN
Pluto, a dwarf planet which has an orbit which sometimes crosses
Neptune's, may have been a moon of Neptune which
escaped the planet's pull of gravity, but being prevented from
escaping the Solar System by the gravitational pull of the Sun.
VIEW FACTS ABOUT OTHER
DESTINATIONS
The Sun -
Mercury -
Venus
- Earth -
The Moon -
Mars
- Jupiter -
Saturn -
Uranus
- Neptune -
Pluto and Dwarf
Planets
PLANETARY STATISTICS
| NAME |
Neptune |
| MEANING OF
NAME |
Roman
god of the Sea (Greek equivalent is Poseidon) |
| NAME
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES |
Neptune
(French), Neptuno (Spanish, Portuguese), Neptun (German, Russian),
Nettuno (Italian), Neptunus (Latin), Poseidon (Greek) |
| AVERAGE
DISTANCE FROM THE SUN |
4,498,252,900
km / 2,795,084,800 miles / 30.069 A.U.
Comparison with
Earth: 149,597,890 km / 92,955,820 miles / 1.000 A.U. |
| CLOSEST
DISTANCE TO THE SUN (PERIHELION) |
4,459,630,000
km / 2,771,087,000 miles / 29.811 A.U.
Comparison with
Earth: 147,100,000 km / 91,400,000 miles / 0.983 A.U. |
| FARTHEST
DISTANCE FROM THE SUN (APHELION) |
4,536,870,000
km / 2,819,080,000 miles / 30.327 A.U.
Comparison with
Earth: 152,100,000 km / 94,500,000 miles / 1.017 A.U. |
| DIAMETER
ACROSS EQUATOR |
49,528 km / 30,776 miles
Comparison with
Earth: 12,756 km / 7,926 miles
|
| DIAGRAM
SHOWING PLANET'S SIZE COMPARED TO THE SIZE OF EARTH |
 |
| CIRCUMFERENCE
AROUND EQUATOR |
155,597
km / 96,683 miles
Comparison with
Earth: 40,074 km / 24,901 miles |
| MASS |
102,440,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
kg
Comparison with
Earth 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg |
| TIME TO SPIN
ON AXIS |
16
hours, 6.5 minutes
Comparison with
Earth: 23 hours, 56 minutes |
| TIME TO ORBIT
THE SUN (1 YEAR) |
164.79
Earth years or 60,190 days
Comparison with
Earth: 365 days, 6 hours |
| DISTANCE
PLANET TRAVELS TO COMPLETE ONE ORBIT |
28,142,000,000
km / 17,487,000,000 miles
Comparison with
Earth: 924,375,700 km / 574,380,400 miles |
| GRAVITY (EARTH
= 1) |
1.1 |
| ESCAPE
VELOCITY |
85,356
km/h / 53,038 mph
Comparison with
Earth: 40,248 km/h / 25,009 mph |
| TEMPERATURE
AT CLOUD TOPS |
-214
°C / -353 °F / 59 K
Comparison with Earth's average temperature: 15
°c / 59 °F / 288 K |
| CONTENTS OF
ATMOSPHERE |
Hydrogen,
Helium, Methane |
| KNOWN MOONS |
Naiad,
Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton,
Nereid, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Psamathe, Neso |
| PAST MISSIONS
(including nationality and year of launch) |
Voyager
2 (USA, 1977. Reached Neptune in 1989) |
| PRESENT
MISSIONS |
Voyager
2 |
| PLANNED
MISSIONS |
None |
| NOTABLE
FEATURES |
Dark
spots representing areas of intense storms appear in Neptune's sky
periodically. |
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