Neptune Facts for Kids

15 Neptune Facts For Kids

1. The planet Neptune was formed from a small part of a giant molecular cloud that had a gravitational collapse about 4.6 billion years ago.
2. Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye, so it is one of the later planets to be discovered by astronomers. On September 23rd, 1846, Neptune was discovered through the joint and separate research efforts of German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle, French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams. There is still academic debate on which of these three astronomers truly discovered Neptune.
3. Neptune is classified as an ice giant planet.
4. Neptune’s atmosphere contains approximately 80% hydrogen, 19% helium and 1% methane.
5. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun at 2,795,173,960 miles or 30.06 astronomical units.
6. Neptune is the fourth largest planet in our Solar System with a radius of 15,299 miles or 388% the size of Earth.
7. Light from the Sun takes 4.1 hours (14,998 seconds) to reach Neptune.
8. Neptune completes an orbit around the Sun every 164.79132 Earth years.
9. Neptune completes a full planet rotation every 0.671 Earth days.
10. Neptune is the coldest planet in our Solar System with an average surface temperature of -330 °F.
11. Neptune has 14 discovered moons (natural satellites).
12. Neptune is one of the four planets in our Solar System with a ring system.
13. The first spacecraft to explore and study Neptune was NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1989.
14. To date, no other man-made spacecraft has visited Uranus other than Voyager 2.
15. Neptune is home to the strongest windspeeds ever recorded in our Solar System. Windspeeds were recorded near 1,200 miles per hour near the Great Dark Spot and on average windspeeds reach 700 miles per hour.

Neptune Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on the planet Neptune. Below are three various pictures of Neptune. These pictures should help you better understand Neptune, one of the eight planets in our Solar System.

A picture of Neptune from a Telescope.

Credit: ESO/P. Weilbacher (AIP)

A picture of Neptune by Voyager 2.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill

Another picture of Neptune by Voyager 2

Credit: NASA/JPL