# data[].attributes.body
Neptune is about 3 billion miles

# data[].attributes.body
Neptune's atmosphere give the blue color.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the presence of a dark vortex in the atmosphere of Neptune. Though similar features were seen during the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune in 1989 and by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994, The Latest: this vortex is the first one observed on Neptune in the 21st century.

Neptune's dark vortices are high-pressure systems and are usually accompanied by bright "companion clouds," which are also now visible on the distant planet. The bright clouds form when the flow of ambient air is perturbed and diverted upward over the dark vortex, causing gases to likely freeze into methane ice crystals.

Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds, ice giant Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet in our solar system. More than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth, Neptune is the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye. In 2011 Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit since its discovery in 1846.

Ten Things to Know About Neptune

Neptune is our solar system's windiest world. Winds whip clouds of frozen methane across the planet at speeds of more than 2,000 km/h (1,200 mph)-close to the top speed of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet. Earth's most powerful winds hit only about 400 km/h (250 mph).

NASA Dryden F/A-18 #852 mission support aircraft in flight. Image Credit: NASA Photo / Lori Losey

Pop Culture

Even though Neptune is the farthest planet from our Sun, it's a frequent stop in pop culture and fiction. The planet served as the backdrop for the 1997 science fiction horror film Event Horizon, while in the cartoon series Futurama, the character Robot Santa Claus has his home base on Neptune's north pole. Dr. Who fans will remember that an episode entitled "Sleep No More" is set on a space station orbiting Neptune. And in the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot episode, "Broken Bow," viewers learn that at warp 4.5 speed, it is possible to fly to Neptune and back to Earth in six minutes

Solar System in My Neighborhood

More to Explore

With a few materials and a few steps, you can build your own glasses to view 3D images.

You can create your own red/blue 3D images to print, or look at on a computer screen, using a normal digital camera and some image processing software.

In this lesson, students will replicate the Voyage model to experience the size of the solar system.

› More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the presence of a dark vortex in the atmosphere of Neptune. Though similar features were seen during the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune in 1989 and by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994, The Latest: this vortex is the first one observed on Neptune in the 21st century.

# data[].attributes.body
Neptune

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun, making it the most distant in the solar system. This gas giant may have formed much closer to the Sun in the early solar system history before migrating out to its current position.

Facts about Neptune

Neptune is the most distant planet from the Sun.

Neptune is the smallest gas giant.

A year on Neptune lasts 165 Earth years.

Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea.

Neptune has 6 faint rings.

Neptune was not known to the ancients.
It is not visible to the naked eye and was first observed in 1846. Its position was determined using mathematical predictions. It was named after the Roman god of the sea.

Neptune spins on its axis very rapidly.
Its equatorial clouds take 16 hours to make one rotation. This is because Neptune is not solid body.

Neptune is the smallest of the ice giants.
Despite being smaller than Uranus, Neptune has a greater mass. Below its heavy atmosphere, Uranus is made of layers of hydrogen, helium, and methane gases. They enclose a layer of water, ammonia and methane ice. The inner core of the planet is made of rock.

The atmosphere of Neptune is made of hydrogen and helium, with some methane.
The methane absorbs red light, which makes the planet appear a lovely blue. High, thin clouds drift in the upper atmosphere.

Neptune has a very active climate.
Large storms whirl through its upper atmosphere, and high-speed winds track around the planet at up 600 meters per second. One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. It was called the Great Dark Spot. It lasted about five years.

Neptune has a very thin collection of rings.
They are likely made up of ice particles mixed with dust grains and possibly coated with a carbon-based substance.

Neptune has 14 moons.
The most interesting moon is Triton, a frozen world that is spewing nitrogen ice and dust particles out from below its surface. It was likely captured by the gravitational pull of Neptune. It is probably the coldest world in the solar system.

Only one spacecraft has flown by Neptune.
In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft swept past the planet. It returned the first close-up images of the Neptune system. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has also studied this planet, as have a number of ground-based telescopes.

Neptune Diagrams

Neptune size compared to Earth

Neptune distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity

Neptune's Great Dark Spot

The Great Dark Spot in the southern atmosphere of Neptune was first discovered in 1989 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It was an incredibly large rotating storm system with winds of up to 1,500 miles per hour, the strongest winds recorded on any planet. How such powerful winds were discovered on a planet so far from the sun is still considered a mystery to this day.

Data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft also showed that the Great Dark Spot varied significantly in size during their brief pass of the planet. When Neptune was viewed by the Hubble Space telescope in 1994 the Great Dark Spot had vanished, although a different dark spot had appeared in Neptune's northern hemisphere.

Neptune's Atmosphere

Neptune has an incredibly thick atmosphere comprised of 74% hydrogen, 25% helium and approximately 1% methane. Its atmosphere also contains icy clouds and the fastest winds recorded in the solar system. Particles of icy methane and minor gases in the extremities of the atmosphere give Neptune its deep blue colour. The striking blue and white features of Neptune also help to distinguish it from Uranus.

Neptune's atmosphere is subdivided into the lower troposphere and the stratosphere with the tropopause being the boundary between the two. In the lower troposphere temperatures decrease with altitude however they increase with altitude in the stratosphere. Hydrocarbons form hazes of smog that appear in the entire upper atmosphere of Neptune and hydrocarbon snowflakes that form in Neptune's atmosphere melt before they reach its surface due to the high pressure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Neptune Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Neptune

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun, making it the most distant in the solar system. This gas giant may have formed much closer to the Sun in the early solar system history before migrating out to its current position. Neptune is the most distant planet from the Sun.

# data[].attributes.body
They have 13 moon

# data[].attributes.body
Neptune is a outer plants

# data[].attributes.body
Neptune is the coldest plant because its blue

# data[].attributes.body
The Average temperature is -210 and -346

# data[].attributes.headline
Neptune Distance from the sun is 4 1-2 billion km and 2.7 billion mi.

# data[].attributes.subject
Neptune Distance from the sun is 4 1-2 billion km and 2.7 billion mi.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CLUSTER Of "Unexplainable" Objects Beyond Neptune 7/26/17

# data[].attributes.headline
The Diameter of Neptune is 49,530 km and 30,777mi

# data[].attributes.subject
The Diameter of Neptune is 49,530 km and 30,777mi

# data[].attributes.headline
The number of the moon is 13 discovered far

# data[].attributes.subject
The number of the moon is 13 discovered far

# data[].attributes.body
Neptune  have no sun

# data[].attributes.body
Its bigger than Earth