Neptune has the fastest winds in the solar system — faster than any hurricane!
Deepest blue ice giant with the fastest winds in the solar system.
Planet: Round, orbits a star, and has swept its orbit clear. Every kind of thing there is →
Its position moves, so there is no fixed place on a map to point at. The Planetarium works out where it is for your own place and date.
A faint blue point — you need a star chart to be sure it is Neptune.
Honest, not glamorous — why the pictures here are drawn.
Neptune is almost 4 Earths across. In weight, about 17 Earths' worth. 30 times Earth's distance from the Sun. Sunlight takes 4.2 hours to reach Neptune — on average, because that distance changes as it goes round. Neptune was discovered in 1846 and only completed its first full orbit since then in 2011 -- nobody who saw it found lived to see it get back. Its day: ~16.1 hours.
| Across | 49 244 km |
|---|---|
| Distance from the Sun, on average | 30 AU ~4.5 billion km · sunlight takes 4.2 hours |
| Once round its orbit | 164.8 Earth years |
| One day there | 16.1 hours |
| Temperature | -200 °C (from -218 to -153) |
| Made of, among other things | methane, water, ammonia |
Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:
Clear tonight? The Planetarium will show you what is worth a look. Then just go out.