The Planet Neptune

By: Caroline Lafferty

How did Neptune get it’s name?

It was named after the Greek god Neptune. During the Greek mythology times, astronomers named the 4 inner planets after the most important gods. Astronomers eventually found the outer planets and keep the tradition of naming them after the gods. Once they got to Neptune, they decided to name it after Neptune, the god of the sea. They named it this because of it’s bluish glow.

Neptune’s Symbol

Neptune’s discovery

Neptune was first discovered by Galileo in 1612. He recorded it though as a fixed star. It was found to be a planet in 1846 by Urbian Joseph le Verner by using mathematics.

Neptune’s distance

• Neptune is the 8th planet from the sun • It is 4,496.6 km away from the sun • It is also 4.4 billion km away from the earth!

Neptune’s Measurements

• Neptune’s mass is 1.02747e26 kg • Neptune’s volume is 102.4e24 kg • Neptune’s density is 1.64g

Would Neptune Sink or Float in Water?

Neptune would sink because it’s mass is heavier than 1.10g.

Neptune’s Atmosphere

Neptune’s atmosphere is made up of hydrogen, helium and methane. It has a very thin atmosphere since it has no firm surface.

Neptune’s Orbit and Rotation

• It takes Neptune 165 years to orbit the sun • One day on Neptune is 16 hours and 6

minutes

Neptune’s Temperature

Neptune is very cold. It is considered as the “ice giant.” The average temperature for Neptune is -346º .

Neptune’s Composition

• Neptune is considered a “gas giant” because of it’s atmosphere.

• Neptune’s outermost layer is the cloud top. Then there are the gases (Hydrogen, helium and methane) and the last layer is rock and ice.

Neptune’s Weather

Neptune has very powerful winds up to 644mph and very strong storms. The blue spot on the planet is where the worst storm occurs.

Neptune’s Moons

• Neptune has 13 moons.• They are called Larissa, Naiad, Thalassa,

Despina, Galata, Proteus, Titron, Nercid, S/2002/N2, S/2002/N3, S/2002/N4 and S/2002/N1.

Neptune’s Moons Discovery Larissa-1989 Naiad- 1989 Thalassa- 1989 Despina- 1989 Galata- 1989 Proteus- 1989 Titron- 1846 Nercid- 1949 S/2002/N4- 2002 S/2002/N3- 2002S/2002/N2- 2002 S/2002/N1- 2002

Where is Water found on Neptune?

The only water that is found on Neptune is in the atmosphere.

Could a Human Survive on Neptune?

The answer is no. Neptune is too cold and does not have gravity so the human would float into space.

Fun Facts about Neptune!

Neptune has the most violent storms than any other planet in our solar system If you weigh 100 pounds on earth, you would weigh 119 pounds on Neptune