Basic Facts
- Distance from Sun: Approximately 4.5 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles)
- Diameter: About 49,244 kilometers (30,598 miles)
- Atmosphere: Composed mainly of hydrogen, helium, and methane
- Moons: 14 known moons, with Triton being the largest
- Orbital Period: Takes about 165 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun
- Rotation Period: A day on Neptune lasts about 16 hours
- Wind Speeds: Neptune has the fastest winds in the solar system, reaching up to 2,100 km/h (1,300 mph)
- Color: Appears blue due to the absorption of red light by methane in the atmosphere
Exploration Missions
- Voyager 2: The only spacecraft to have visited Neptune, flew by in 1989 and provided the first close-up images.
- Future Missions: Plans for potential future missions include orbiters and landers to study Neptune and its moons in more detail.
Interesting Facts
- Great Dark Spot: A massive storm similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, observed during Voyager 2's flyby.
- Triton: Triton is unique for its retrograde orbit and is believed to have been captured by Neptune's gravity.
- Neptune's Rings: Neptune has faint rings composed of ice particles and dust.
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