Neptune Overview and Facts

Study Notes

Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun in our solar system
It is extremely cold and windy, much farther than Earth from the Sun
Neptune is similar to Uranus
Neptune is made of a thick gas of water, ammonia, and methane, with a solid center the size of Earth
It takes sunlight 4 hours to travel from the Sun to Neptune at that distance
Neptune has a blue color due to methane in its atmosphere
Neptune has the strongest winds in our solar system
The winds can be up to three times stronger than Jupiter's and nine times stronger than Earth's
A large, oval-shaped storm called the "Great Dark Spot" was observed in Neptune's southern hemisphere but has since disappeared

Neptune has at least 6 rings, plus 4 ring arcs that are difficult to see.
Neptune has 14 moons
Triton, Neptune's largest moon, orbits backward (retrograde) unlike other moons, suggesting it may have been captured
Triton has a thin atmosphere that is getting warmer, with geysers erupting icy material above its surface that are more than 8 km high

Voyager 2 visited Neptune in 1989 and gathered information about its rings, moons, and magnetic field.
Voyager 2 found 10 new moons, 2 new rings and a stronger magnetic field than Saturn's
Voyager 2 traveled 3 billion kilometers in nine years, which took six hours to observe Uranus and its rings and moons
New technologies like the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have further enhanced our understanding of Uranus' attributes.
New Horizons passed the orbit of Uranus in 2011