Neptune Facts

The exclusion of planet Pluto from the list of planets in our solar system has left it with only eight planets, thus making planet Neptune the last planet of the solar system. When Neptune was discovered in 1846, it got the distinction of being the farthest planet from the Sun. That, however, was short-lived as the discovery of Pluto in 1930 made it the farthest planet from the Sun, instead of planet Neptune. In 2006, however, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) declared that Pluto is a dwarf-planet, and thus Neptune regained the distinction of being the farthest planet once again. Even though there exists several Neptune facts - each of which is more interesting than the other, not many people are well-versed with them, and this has resulted in keeping this interesting planet off our knowledge radar for a long time.

Neptune Facts and Information

A significant portion of our knowledge about planet Neptune is attributed to Voyager 2 spacecraft - which is the only spacecraft to make a spaceflight by this planet. It took this unmanned interplanetary space probe - which was launched on 20th August, 1977, 12 whole years to reach Neptune. Given below are some general Neptune planet facts which contain all the details of this planet that you need to know.

1. The discovery of Neptune on 23rd September, 1846, was an achievement in the field of astronomy as it became the first planet to be discovered by mathematical calculation instead of empirical observation.
2. The diameter of Neptune is 30,802.61 miles, which makes this planet four times the size of planet Earth.
3. The mass of planet Neptune is 1.0243×10²⁶ kg, which is 17.147 times that of planet Earth.
4. The orbital period for this massive planet is 164 years, 288 days and 13.0 hours, which amounts to 60,190 Earth days - a lot as compared to that of Earth at 365 days.
5. While Earth takes 24 hours to complete a single rotation, Neptune pulls of this task in 16 hours and 7 minutes according to Earth time.
6. The faint fragmented rings around this planet are more of arcs orbiting the planet. Even though they were believed to have existed since a long time, their presence was only confirmed by Voyager 2 in 1989.
7. The atmosphere of Neptune is made up of hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia and water. The blue color of this planet can be attributed to absorption of red light by methane gas present in its atmosphere.
8. Neptune has 13 natural satellites or moons, among which Triton is the largest. Interestingly, Triton was the first Neptune moon to be discovered - which was discovered 17 days after the discovery of Neptune.
9. Neptune is the coldest planet in the solar system with temperatures reaching as low as -218 °C. More interestingly, Neptune's moon - Triton is the coldest place in the solar system with a temperature of -230°C.
10. Even though NASA was contemplating the idea of sending a mission to Neptune - tentatively named Neptune Orbiter, in 2016, it has been postponed indefinitely as of now.

Interesting Neptune Facts for Kids

If you try to explain anything to kids, they will seldom take any interest in it unless you make things interesting. Luckily, there are so many interesting things about planet Neptune that you don't have to put in any extra effort to make sure that children pay attention to the same. Even though Neptune is the fourth largest planet in the solar system, it is the smallest among the gas giants out there. Given below are more of such interesting facts about Neptune which will tell you how amazing this planet of the solar system is.

1. The credit for the discovery of planet Neptune goes to Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Galle. Among the three, Jahann Galle was the first person to view the planet Neptune.
2. Some accounts suggest that Galileo was the first person to sight Neptune. However, his drawing depicts it as a star and not a planet.
3. The name of this planet is derived from the name of Roman God of Sea - Neptune.
4. At a distance of 30.1 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, Neptune is 30 times far from the Sun than planet Earth is.
5. Planet Neptune is also one of the stormiest planet in the solar system, with wind clocking a speed 1,240 miles per hour every now and then.
6. Both Neptune and Pluto (now a dwarf-planet) orbit the Sun in such a manner that Neptune at times go farther than Pluto.
7. Even though Pluto was the farthest planet from the Sun when it was considered to be a planet, its elliptical orbit had brought it closer to the Sun than Neptune for a period of 20 years between 1979 and 1999.
8. If you take into consideration the fact that Neptune takes 167 years to complete one revolution, you'd realize that the planet is yet to complete a revolution after it was discovered.
9. Interestingly, different parts of planet Neptune rotate at different pace. For instance, the poles take 12 hours to complete a rotation while the equatorial region takes 16 hours for the same.
10. The inward spiraling of Triton is taking it closer to Neptune. At one point of time, it will come so close to Neptune that the gravitational pull of the planet will cause it to disintegrate and this will result in formation of rings around it.

Those were some interesting Neptune facts intended to give you an insight of the outermost planet of our solar system. As we mentioned earlier, our knowledge about this planet is restricted to data compiled by Voyager 2, which passed by Neptune on 25th August, 1989. That being said, the rate at which we have made progress in the field of space exploration over the last decade or two, it wouldn't be surprising to see a new Neptune mission which will give us access to a number of other interesting facts about this planet some time in near future.