Neptune
Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun, only visible with optical instruments, even if they are simple binoculars. It is a gaseous planet, like Jupiter and Saturn, but having a relatively higher presence of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen it is also called an "ice giant", like Uranus. According to Greek mythology, Neptune is the god of the oceans.
Diameter | Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun, only visible with optical instruments, even if they are simple binoculars. It is a gaseous planet, like Jupiter and Saturn, but having a relatively higher presence of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen it is also called an "ice giant", like Uranus. According to Greek mythology, Neptune is the god of the oceans. |
Duration of the day | The day on Neptune is considerably shorter than ours. It lasts 16 hours and 6 minutes. |
Year duration | To experience a year on Neptune we would need to live as long as a giant Galapagos tortoise: 165 years. |
Distance to the sun | It is about 30 times farther from the Sun than we are, at 4.5 billion km. 4.5 kilometers from the Sun in this model represented at Garraf. |
Satellites | 14 satellites are currently known. The largest is Triton, 2,700 km in diameter. |
Composition | It is a huge sphere of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium but with a significant proportion of water ice, ammonia and methane. |
| At the level of the atmosphere equivalent to the pressure of a terrestrial atmosphere, the temperature is 200 °C below zero. In the interior they surely reach 5,000 °C. |
Gravity | We would weigh 10% more than on Earth. |
Density | 1.6 g / cm³. Similar to the density of magnesium. |
Did you know... | … That from Neptune the Sun is just a point in the sky? But it is so bright that at noon we would notice a luminosity like here at sunset. … That light we see from Neptune takes 4 hours to reach us? And think that the sunlight that illuminates it also takes 4 hours to reach Neptune. If the Sun went out right now, we could still see Neptune for 8 hours. |
- See if it is currently visible to the naked eye at www.planetari.cat/planetes