After Pluto not being considered a planet anymore, there are eight planets left in our solar system. So, you can expect us to view all eight planets in detail in order to cum up with the most interesting and sometimes unbelievable facts as we did with the Earth. In this article we cover Neptune as one of the two ice giants, so be prepared for 16 not-to-miss facts about Neptune.
1. Neptune, Saturn and Venus are the names of three seaside resorts in Romania.
2. The existence of Neptune was mathematically predicted before the planet was directly observed, based on the orbit of Uranus.
3. Neptune is the farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System
4. It takes Neptune 165 earth years to circle the sun.
5. Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea because of its blue appearance.
Read more: 111 Space Facts That’ll Blow Your Mind
6. Neptune was discovered in 1846 by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle using a telescope. Did you know that Galileo Galilei did not invent the telescope but only improved it? In our article you will find more surprising facts about him.
7. 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.
8. Although Neptune is a gas planet, the core of the planet, which is roughly the size of the Earth, is made of rock.
9. The gravity of Neptune is just 14 percent higher than the gravity on Earth.
10. Triton, the largest of Neptune’s 14 moons, was discovered just 17 days after the planet was first sighted.
11. There are two “Great Dark Spots” on Neptune where storms can rage for several months and even several years.
12. The blue color of Neptune is due to the methane in the atmosphere, which mainly consists of hydrogen and helium.
13. 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).
Read more: 21 Amazing Facts About Uranus
14. At -235 degrees Celsius, the coldest temperature in our solar system to date was measured on the Neptune moon Triton.
15. 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.
16. Neptune’s magnetic field is about 27 times as strong as that of Earth.
17. 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.
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General Facts about Neptune
| Neptune | |
| Minimum distance to the sun in million mi (km) | 2,761 (4,444) |
| Maximum distance to the sun in million mi (km) | 2,825 (4,546) |
| Number of moons | 13 |
| Rotation speed in mp/h (km/h) | 3,752 (6,039) |
| Direction of rotation | prograde |
| Slope in ° | 29 |
| Rotation period (duration of one day) | 16 hours |
| Period of circulation (duration of one year) | 164 yearas |
| Minimum temperature in °F ( °C) | -335 (-204) |
| Average temperature in °F ( °C) | -330 (-201) |
| Maximum temperature in °F ( °C) | -324 (-198) |
| Diameter in mi (km) | 30,775 (49,528) |
| Diameter in earth diameters | 3.883 |
| Volume in 1012 mi³ (km³) | 15.001 (62.526) |
| Volume in earths | 57.723 |
| Mass in 1021 t | 102.44 |
| Mass in earths | 17.149 |
| Rings | yes |
| Gas Planet | yes |
| Average orbital velocity in mp/s (km/s) | 12,147 (19,548) |
| density in g/cm³ | 1.64 |
| Gravitational force compared to the earth | 1.137 |