Interesting Facts About Neptune

Neptune is one of the most interesting objects in our solar system. It shares commonalities with its nearest neighbor, Uranus, but is also similar in many ways to the king if the planets, Jupiter. Here we explore some of the facts about this strange blue world.

1. Neptune is the Farthest Planet from the Sun

Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun, and since the demotion of Pluto to Dwarf Planet status, that makes Neptune the most distant planet in our solar system.

2. Neptune is the Only Planet in the Solar System to be Discovered Mathematically

Neptune had been seen through telescopes for years before it was officially identified as a planet. Because it is so far from the Sun it moves very slowly in its orbit, so to us it crawls across the sky. Unless you observe the world consistently for many nights, its motion is not all that dissimilar from the stars. But scientists noticed that something was perturbing the orbit of the planet Uranus, leading them to mathematically predict the location of the new world. That predicted position was confirmed by astronomers shortly afterward.

3. Neptune Has Giant Storms like those on Jupiter

Uranus is the planet most commonly associated the Neptune. This makes sense because of their proximity to each other as well as their similar structure. However, unlike its nearby cousin, Neptune has giant storm vortices like those on the kind of the planets: Jupiter.

4. Neptune has Rings

When we think of planetary rings, we imagine those of Saturn. But in fact all of the outer four planets have rings, though they are much more difficult to see and often require specialized instruments to fully capture.

5. Triton, Neptune's Largest Moon, is a bit Backward

Neptune has 13 moons in total, but most of them are quite small. The largest moon, Triton is quite unique. It is the only moon in the solar system that orbits its host planet backwards. This has lead scientists to believe that the planet was actually captured from the Kuiper belt, instead of forming around the planet.

6. It Takes Neptune about 165 Earth-Years to Orbit the Sun

Because of its distance from the Sun, Neptune moves very slowly around the Sun. So slowly, in fact, that it takes about 165 years on Earth for the blue giant to orbit the Sun once!