Neptune

Introduction

It is common to hear the terms Solar System, Galaxy, and Universe used interchangeably among intelligent people. For instance, you could hear, "how many stars are in our solar system?" or, "Which is the largest planet in the Solar system?"

As suggested by its name, the solar system is connected to the Sun. Almost all of the time, the solar system is commanded and governed by the Sun, whose gravitational force keeps the planets in their orbit. Moreover, the Sun also provides energy in the form of light, heat, and other forms, which is crucial.

Planets of the Solar System

A rocky object that orbits the Sun, has more than enough mass to sustain hydrostatic equilibrium, giving it a round body, and has cleared the space in and around its orbit is known as a planet.

Mercury

Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun. The distance is just 58 million kilometres (36 million miles) or 0.39 AU. Out of the eight planets, Mercury is the smallest.

Venus

The planet that is next to the Sun in distance. The relative distance of Venus from the sun is typically 108 million kilometres. Venus orbits the Sun once every 225 days and has a surface area that is 90% that of the Earth. On Venus, a day is equivalent to 243 Earth days.

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the sun in distance. The average distance from the sun to the earth is about 150 million miles. On Earth, there is just one natural moon and a few more artificial satellites. 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen, 21% is oxygen, and 1% is made up of other gases. On average, water covers 70% of the Earth's surface.

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and it is 228 million kilometres away. Mars, also referred to as the Red Planet, is extremely similar to Earth. It contains two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Jupiter

The Solar System's fifth and largest planet. Jupiter's distance from the Sun is 778 million kilometres. It is 2.5 times bigger than all the other planets put together and 317 times more massive than the Earth.

Saturn

Saturn is an enormous gaseous planet that is sixth in the solar system. Saturn is 9.5 AU or 1.4 billion kilometres from the Sun. Surrounding it are seven ring systems. Due to its 82 known satellites, the gas giant was recently named the king of the moons.

Uranus

Uranus occupies the seventh position in the Solar system. Both Uranus and the Sun are separated by 1.8 billion miles or 2.9 billion kilometres. It ranks third in size among the planets in the solar system. Currently, 27 moons that circle Uranus have been confirmed.

Neptune

The most distant planet is Neptune. It is located roughly 4.5 billion kilometres from the Sun. It is also a frozen giant, like Uranus. There are 14 known moons of Neptune.

Discovery of Neptune

William Herschel found a celestial object in 1781, which he believed to be either a comet or star. But he found that the body was moving, which led him to eventually conclude that it was a comet. Johann E. Bode concluded in 1783 that the object was a planet because of its nearly circular orbit when other astronomers began to investigate the discovery of Uranus.

It was the first to be discovered using a telescope. Astronomers began to monitor and document the arc of the planets' orbits after Uranus was discovered. In 1821, the variations between theoretical and actual heliocentric longitude are listed in a table by Bouvard which eventually became crucial for discovering the planet beyond Uranus, currently known as Neptune. On September 23, 1846, Johann G. Galle made the genuine discovery of Neptune.

Characteristics of Neptune

• Earth is almost four times smaller than Neptune. Neptune's size is equivalent to that of a basketball if Earth is a huge apple.

• Neptune takes about 16 hours to complete one rotation around the Sun while the time taken to complete one revolution is about 165 earth years.

• Neptune's mantle comprises water, ammonia, and methane. The atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium and traces of methane giving it a characteristic blue appearance.

• Neptune is one of the darkest ice giant planets flapped by the supersonic wind incapable of supporting life.

• There are at least 5 main rings on Neptune, and there are also four ring arcs, which are the accumulation of dust and debris that were created by the gravitational influence of a neighbouring satellite.

Climate on Neptune

Climate changes in Neptune have been discovered to be extremely dynamic. Because of its isolation from the sun, it has one of the solar system's coldest atmospheres, with temperatures as low as -218 degrees Celsius. A viscous layer of water, methane, and ammonia from the dense atmosphere of Neptune. Neptune has the highest measured wind speed of about 1,200 miles per hour. These are caused by the great temperature variation between both the inner core and the outer cold core.

Orbit and Rotation

Around our Sun, Neptune orbits with a radius of 4,504.45 million kilometres. Its orbital eccentricity causes this distance to fluctuate significantly, from 4,460 million kilometres to 4,540 million kilometres. At a typical orbital velocity of 5.43 km/s, Neptune orbits the sun once every 164.8 Earth years or 60,182 Earth days. According to this, a year on Neptune is about similar to 165 years on Earth. However, because of its rotating period, which is equivalent to 16 hours 6 minutes 36 seconds on the earth, a year on Neptune equals 89,666 Neptunian solar days.

Conclusion

Here, we learned that Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun and is the fourth largest planet in the solar system. The atmosphere of Neptune is built with hydrogen, helium and traces of methane giving it a blue colour appearance.

FAQs

1. What is the size of Neptune as compared to the earth?

The radius of Neptune is 24,622 kilometres whereas the radius of earth is 6371 km thus Neptune is about 4 time in size as compared to earth.

2. What is the distance of Neptune from the earth?

Neptune is the last planet of the solar system and it is 4.3471 million kilometres from the earth.

3. How much time does Sunlight take to reach Neptune?

As its distance from the sun is larger so sunlight has to travel for 4 hours to reach Neptune’s surface.

4. When did Neptune become the last planet in the solar system?

Pluto was removed from the solar system as a planet in August 2006, after Neptune is the last planet in the solar system.

5. What is the distance of Neptune from the sun in the Astronomical Unit?

Neptune is 30 Astronomical Units away from the sun. The value of 1 AU in kilometres is 149597870.7.