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Sun Mercury
Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
SUMMARY
| Neptune, named after the Roman god of the sea, is the eighth planet from the
sun, and the smallest of the gas giants. Neptune was discovered in 1846 by John Couch
Adams, Urbain Le Varrier, and Johann Galle. |
Composition
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| Neptune is composed mainly of hydrogen, helium, and methane, surrounding a
small solid core. |
Atmosphere
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| Neptune's atmosphere is composed of extremely cold methane, helium, and
hydrogen. The atmosphere is full of giant dark storms, hurricanes, and clouds of
methane-ice. Neptune has the strongest winds of any planet in the solar system, reaching
speeds of over 1,250 miles per hour. Neptune has a giant storm, called the Great Dark
Spot, which is similar to Jupiter's mysterious Great Red Spot. |
Size
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| Neptune is the fourth largest planet, slightly smaller than Uranus. Neptune
has a diameter of 30,775 miles, almost four times the size of Earth. |
Orbit
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| Neptune is usually the eighth planet from the sun, about 2.8 billion miles
away. A year on Neptune takes about 164 Earth years, but a day takes only 18 hours. |
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