Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun. The surface is very different from the terrestrial planet this planet is mostly made up of gas and ice inside.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere of Neptune shows that there is a striped pattern of clouds the same as Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune also has a dark spot just like Jupiter. The atmosphere consists of four layers the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere this is the same as Earth. The atmosphere is similar to the gas giants in our solar system made up of clouds thought to be methane crystals.
Moons and Rings: There are 13 moons surrounding Neptune, and has series of rings too. Neptune rings are very different from Saturn ones because Neptune rings are darker, and made up of small rocks and dust and not ice.Neptune has a large moon called Triton, this moon is one of the coldest place in the solar system. Triton seems to be active with geysers similar to the ones at Yellowstone Park, but Tritons geysers spew out ice and not stream. The liquid environment on Triton might be able to sustain life. The moon has a very thin icy atmosphere, which may be active.
Discover Neptune: Neptune wasn’t discovered like all the other planets, by looking through a telescope or by the brightness of it in the sky. Astronomers used maths instead hard to believe but true. After Uranus was discovered astronomers were trying to figure out the orbit of Uranus, so they realized that another planet was farther out than Uranus. A French astronomer Leverrier and English astronomer John Couch Adams made a mathematical calculation of where Neptune would be and a German astronomer Johan Galle observed the planets. Neptune was named after the roman god of deep seas.
| Diameter: | Mass: | Density: | Minimum Distance From Sun: | Maximum Distance from Sun: | Orbital Semimajor Axiz: | Minmum Distance from Earth: |
| 49,493 km (30,760 miles) | 102.4x10^24 kilograms (17.2 x Earth's) | 1,638 kg/m^3 | 4.46 billion km (2.77 billion miles) |
4.54 billion km (2.82 billion miles) |
30.07 AU (Earth=1 AU) | 4.3 billion km (2.68 billion miles) |
| Rotation Period about Axis: | Revolution Period about the Sun: | Tilt of Axis: | Surface Gravity: | Temperature at Cloud Tops: | Averager Cloud Top Temperature (K): | Satellties/Rings: |
| 17.24 hrs | 165 years | 29 o 36" | 11 m/s^2 (1.12 x Earth's) | -210 o C ( -346 o F) | 63K | 13 known moons, faint rings |
