Introduction to Neptune 

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the outermost gas planet. It has an equatorial diameter of 49, 532 kilometers (30, 760 miles) and is larger than Uranus by mass (but smaller by radius). Neptune orbits the Sun once every 165 years with an orbit of 4,504,000,000 kilometers (30.06 AU). Its mass is 1.0247 x 10²⁶ kilograms and has a volume large enough to contain around sixty Earths. Its orbital period is faster than here on Earth, since one day on Neptune would be 16 hours, 6.7 minutes. Neptune has eight satellites, six found by Voyager. The planet was discovered on September 23, 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle (of the Berlin Observatory), and Louis d'Arrest (a student of astronomy), with the aid of mathematical predictions by Urbain Jean Adams and Joseph Le Verrier.

Neptune was named after the god of the Sea in Roman Mythology: Poseidon.

Neptune Contents

• Introduction to Neptune

• Orbital and Physical Data

• Surface
  • Landmarks
    • The Great Dark Spot
    • The Small Dark Spot
    • The New Dark Spot
    • The Scooter
  • The Rings
  • Twisted Rings
  • Winds on the surface
  • Clouds on Neptune
  
  
• Interior
  • Composition
  • The Magnetic Field
  
  
• Exploration
  • Discovery of Neptune
  • Discoveries of Voyager 2
  
  
• Satellites
  • Naiad
  • Thalassa
  • Despina
  • Galatea
  • Larissa
  • Proteus
  • Triton
  • Nereid