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Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times the mass of Earth. Compared to its fellow ice giant Uranus, Neptune is slightly more massive, but denser and smaller.
John Herschel almost discovered Neptune the same way his father, William Herschel, had discovered Uranus in 1781: by chance observation. In an 1846 letter to Wilhelm Struve, John Herschel states that he observed Neptune during a sweep of the sky on July 14, 1830.
The rings of Neptune are made of extremely dark material, likely organic compounds processed by radiation, similar to those found in the rings of Uranus. [5] The proportion of dust in the rings (between 20% and 70%) is high, [5] while their optical depth is low to moderate, at less than 0.1. [6] Uniquely, the Adams ring includes five distinct ...
Neptune was discovered in 1846 and is located 30 times farther from the sun than Earth. The planet's 164-year orbit takes it through some of the darkest and most remote regions of the outer solar ...
In order of distance from Neptune, the regular moons are Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Hippocamp, and Proteus. All but the outer two are within Neptune- synchronous orbit (Neptune's rotational period is 0.6713 day or 16 hours [20]) and thus are being tidally decelerated. Naiad, the closest regular moon, is also the second smallest ...
Neptune has been directly explored by one space probe, Voyager 2, in 1989. As of 2024, there are no confirmed future missions to visit the Neptunian system, although a tentative Chinese mission has been planned for launch in 2024. [1] NASA, ESA, and independent academic groups have proposed future scientific missions to visit Neptune.
The ice giants Uranus and Neptune live up to their name. Although humans have only ever sent one spacecraft (Voyager 2) toward these far-flung worlds, scientists have a pretty good idea that these ...
Generally, Neptune is depicted as a rich, deep blue. Uranus is usually seen as a pale green or cyan. In fact, however, they are much more similar than we thought. Both planets are a particular ...