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Gas Giant
Blue
Diameter:
31,000 miles
Rotation:
0.7 days
Orbit:
165 years.
Temperature Average: -201 C
Moons: 13
Number
from the sun: 8
Distance
from the sun: 2795 million miles
Neptune has very strong
winds. It was found in 1846. It has little white clouds similar to those on
earth. Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea.
Neptune is far away from
the sun. It is almost three billion miles away. Sometimes Pluto goes inside
Neptune’s orbit. When it does that, Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun.
The rest of the time Pluto is the farthest planet.
One day on Neptune is
equal to about sixteen hours on earth. Its daytime is not very bright because it
is so far from the Sun. One year on Neptune is equal to 165 years on Earth.
That’s a long time!
Neptune is a large
planet. You could fit 57 Earths inside Neptune. It is also very cold because the
Sun’s warmth doesn’t reach it. Neptune’s largest moon is called Triton. Another
of its moons is called Nereid.
We sent a probe to
Neptune in 1989. We found out that Neptune is a beautiful blue color. People now
call it the Blue Planet. It has very strong winds, up to 600 miles per hour! It
has a large storm, called the Great Dark Spot. This one storm is almost as big
as Earth is.
We
believe that Neptune has a rocky center. It doesn’t have any life. It has poison
clouds that cover its surface. It also has thin rings and a lot more moons.
Think about it:
What would happen to astronauts if they tried to breathe the air on
Neptune? Why would that happen?
To learn more about
Neptune, visit this site:
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/neptune/neptune.html
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