Did you know? The winds on Neptune are so powerful that they break the sound barrier.
Interesting, isn’t it? With so many things happening on Earth, we often forget how awesome other planets in our solar system are. So, In this post, we are gonna go through 15 Mind-Blowing Neptune facts that will help you realize how cool and awesome Neptune is.
Facts About Neptune
1. Neptune is named after the Roman God of the Sea. In Greek, Neptune is called Poseidon. This is also the reason why the planet’s symbol is the Trident.
2. With a diameter of 34,503 miles (55,528) kilometers, Neptune is the 4rth largest planet in our Solar System.
3. 57 Earth-sized planets could fit inside Neptune with a little room left over.
4. It is the eighth planet from the Sun. At, about 30 times the distance between our star and the Earth, Neptune is the most distant planet in our Solar System.
5. This distance creates the longest orbit of the eight worlds, about 165 years, with the seasons lasting a little over 41 Earth years each.
Facts About Neptune
6. However, a day on Neptune is much shorter. In contrast to our 24-hour day, Neptune has a 16-hour day due to the Swift rotation it has upon its axis.
7. Since it is so far away from the heat and light of the Sun, Neptune is cold, dark, and icy. At its heart is a solid core about 1.5 times the size of Earth, Making up about 45% of the planet’s mass. The core is made of water ice and silicate rock. The rest of the planet is believed to be a hot pressurized ocean of water, methane, and ammonia ice surrounded by a layer of clouds.
8. Despite looking cool, calm veneer from afar, up close, Neptune has the most severe weather in the Solar System.
Winds on the planet reach speeds of over 1,500 miles per hour (2,400 kilometers per hour), nearly five times faster than the strongest winds recorded on Earth. The winds are so powerful that they break the sound barrier.
9. Neptune has an average surface temperature of -214°C – approximately -353°F.
10. Neptune has no solid surface. In fact, the blue-green disc we’ve seen in the images is a bit of an illusion.
Facts About Neptune
11. Drifting high above this windy ice giant is a quiet ecosystem of rings and satellites. Six rings encircle the planet. Also revolving around the planet are 14 known moons, with the largest called Triton.
12. Named after the son of the ancient Greek sea god, Triton has ice volcanoes and may even contain a subsurface ocean.
13. Only one spacecraft, the Voyager 2, has flown past Neptune. It happened in 1989 and captured the first close-up images of the Neptunian system. It took 246 minutes – four hours and six minutes – for signals from Voyager 2 to reach back to Earth.
14. Neptune’s atmosphere is made up predominantly of hydrogen and helium with some methane, this small portion of methane gas in Neptune’s atmosphere is what makes the planet appear blue and beautiful.
15. Although Neptune is much larger, its surface gravity is about the same as the surface gravity on the Earth. The surface gravity on Neptune is about 110 percent of the surface gravity on Earth.
Moreover, Neptune has the second-largest gravity of any planet in the solar system, second only to Jupiter.
That’s it for this post guys, I hope you had fun while reading about 15 Awesome Venus facts for kids. And in case you’re interested in reading other articles:
10 Mind-Blowing Facts about Mercury that you probably didn’t know
25 Mind-Blowing Facts About Moon That You Probably Didn’t Know
30 Mind-Blowing Space facts that will amaze you
