Neptune

Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet

Neptune
orbiting the Sun. It is the fourth-largest planet in the
Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive
planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times the
mass of Earth. Compared to Uranus, its neighbouring
ice giant, Neptune is slightly smaller, but more massive
and denser. Being composed primarily of gases and
liquids,[21] it has no well-defined solid surface.
Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an
orbital distance of 30.1 astronomical units (4.5 billion
kilometres; 2.8 billion miles). It is named after the
Roman god of the sea and has the astronomical symbol
, representing Neptune's trident.[e]

Neptune is not visible to the unaided eye and is the

only planet in the Solar System that was not initially Neptune in true colour;[1] at centre is the Great
observed by direct empirical observation. Rather, Dark Spot[a]
unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led Alexis
Discovery[2]
Bouvard to hypothesise that its orbit was subject to
gravitational perturbation by an unknown planet. After Discovered by Johann Galle
Bouvard's death, the position of Neptune was Urbain Le Verrier
mathematically predicted from his observations, John Couch Adams
independently, by John Couch Adams and Urbain Le
Discovery date 23 September 1846
Verrier. Neptune was subsequently directly observed
with a telescope on 23 September 1846[2] by Johann Designations
Gottfried Galle within a degree of the position Pronunciation US: /ˈnɛptuːn/ ⓘ,
predicted by Le Verrier. Its largest moon, Triton, was UK: /-tjuːn/[3]
discovered shortly thereafter, though none of the Named after Latin Neptunus, via French
planet's remaining moons were located telescopically Neptune
until the 20th century. Adjectives Neptunian (/nɛpˈtjuːniən/),[4]
Poseidean[5]
The planet's distance from Earth gives it a small
apparent size, and its distance from the Sun renders it Symbol ,
very dim, making it challenging to study with Earth- Orbital characteristics[6][b]
based telescopes. Only the advent of the Hubble Space
Epoch J2000
Telescope and of large ground-based telescopes with
adaptive optics allowed for detailed observations. Aphelion 30.33 AU (4.54 billion km)

Voyager 2, which flew by Neptune on 25 August 1989, Perihelion 29.81 AU (4.46 billion km)
remains the only spacecraft to ever visit the Semi-major axis 30.07 AU (4.50 billion km)
planet.[22][23] Like the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), Eccentricity 0.008 678
Neptune's atmosphere is composed primarily of
hydrogen and helium, along with traces of Orbital period 164.8 yr
hydrocarbons and possibly nitrogen, but contains a (sidereal)
60,195 days
higher proportion of ices such as water, ammonia and
89,666 Neptunian solar
methane. Similar to Uranus, its interior is primarily
days[7]
composed of ices and rock;[24] both planets are
normally considered "ice giants" to distinguish Orbital period 367.49 days[8]
(synodic)
them.[25] Along with Rayleigh scattering, traces of
methane in the outermost regions make Neptune Average orbital 5.45 km/s[8]
speed
appear faintly blue.[26][27]
Mean anomaly 259.883°
In contrast to the strongly seasonal atmosphere of Inclination 1.770° to ecliptic
Uranus, which can be featureless for long periods of 6.43° to Sun's equator
time, Neptune's atmosphere has active and consistently 0.74° to invariable plane[9]
visible weather patterns. At the time of the Voyager 2 Longitude of 131.783°
flyby in 1989, the planet's southern hemisphere had a ascending node
Great Dark Spot comparable to the Great Red Spot on Time of 2042-Sep-04[10]
Jupiter. In 2018, a newer main dark spot and smaller perihelion
dark spot were identified and studied.[28] These Argument of 273.187°
weather patterns are driven by the strongest sustained perihelion
winds of any planet in the Solar System, as high as Known satellites 16
2,100 km/h (580 m/s; 1,300 mph).[29] Because of its
Physical characteristics
great distance from the Sun, Neptune's outer
atmosphere is one of the coldest places in the Solar Mean radius 24,622 ± 19 km[11][c]
System, with temperatures at its cloud tops Equatorial radius 24,764 ± 15 km[11][c]
approaching 55 K (−218 °C; −361 °F). Temperatures at 3.883 Earths
the planet's centre are approximately 5,400 K Polar radius 24,341 ± 30 km[11][c]
(5,100 °C; 9,300 °F).[30][31] Neptune has a faint and 3.829 Earths
fragmented ring system (labelled "arcs"), discovered in
Flattening 0.0171 ± 0.0013
1984 and confirmed by Voyager 2.[32]
Surface area 7.6183 × 109 km2[12][c]
14.94 Earths

History Volume 6.254 × 1013 km3[8][c]

57.74 Earths
Mass 1.024 09 × 1026 kg[8]
Discovery 17.147 Earths
5.15 × 10−5 Suns
Some of the earliest known telescopic observations
ever, Galileo's drawings on 28 December 1612 and 27 Mean density 1.638 g/cm3[8][d]
January 1613 (New Style) contain plotted points that Surface gravity 11.27 m/s2 (1.149 g0)[8][c]
match what is now known to have been the positions Moment of 0.23[13] (estimate)
of Neptune on those dates. Both times, Galileo seems inertia factor
to have mistaken Neptune for a fixed star when it Escape velocity 23.5 km/s[8][c]
appeared close—in conjunction—to Jupiter in the Synodic rotation 0.671 25 d
night sky.[33] Hence, he is not credited with Neptune's period 16 h 6 m 36 s[7]
discovery. At his first observation in December 1612,
Sidereal rotation 0.673 day[8]
Neptune was almost stationary in the sky because it period 16 h 6 min 36 s
had just turned retrograde that day. This apparent
 backward motion is Equatorial 2.68 km/s[14]
created when Earth's rotation velocity
orbit takes it past an Axial tilt 28.32° (to orbit)[8]
outer planet. Because North pole 19h 57m 20s[11]
Neptune was only right ascension 299.36°[15]
beginning its yearly North pole 43.46°[15]
retrograde cycle, the declination
motion of the planet
Albedo 0.290 (bond)[16]
was far too slight to 0.442 (geom.)[17]
be detected with
Surface temp. min mean max
Galileo's small [8]
[34] 1 bar level 72 K (−201 °C)
Galileo Galilei may have telescope. In 2009,
been the first person to sight 0.1 bar (10 kPa) 55 K (−218 °C)[8]
a study suggested that
Neptune
Galileo was at least Apparent 7.67[18] to 8.00[18]
magnitude
aware that the "star"
he had observed had Absolute −6.9[19]
magnitude (H)
moved relative to
Angular diameter 2.2–2.4″[8][20]
fixed stars.[35]
Atmosphere[8]
Scale height 19.7 ± 0.6 km
Composition by 80% ± 3.2% hydrogen
volume 19% ± 3.2% helium
1.5% ± 0.5% methane
~0.019% hydrogen
Urbain Le Verrier mostly
successfully predicted
deuteride
Neptune's position ~0.00015% ethane
Icy volatiles:
ammonia, water ice,
ammonium hydrosulfide

In 1821, Alexis Bouvard published astronomical tables of the orbit of

Uranus.[36] Subsequent observations revealed substantial deviations
from the tables, leading Bouvard to hypothesize that an unknown body
was perturbing the orbit through gravitational interaction.[37] In 1843,
John Couch Adams began work on the orbit of Uranus using the data he
had. He requested extra data from Sir George Airy, the Astronomer
Johann Gottfried Galle was
Royal, who supplied it in February 1844. Adams continued to work in
requested by Le Verrier to
look for Neptune 1845–1846 and produced several different estimates for the position of
an undiscovered planet beyond Uranus.[38][39]

Independently from Adams, Urbain Le Verrier developed his own

calculations in 1845–1846 that pointed to an undiscovered planet, but
aroused no enthusiasm among his compatriots. In June 1846, upon
seeing Le Verrier's first published estimate of a suspected undiscovered
planet's longitude and its similarity to Adams's estimate, Airy persuaded
 James Challis to search for it. Challis vainly scoured the sky throughout
August and September.[37][40] Challis had, in fact, observed Neptune a
year before the planet's subsequent discoverer, Johann Gottfried Galle,
and on two occasions, 4 and 12 August 1845. However, his out-of-date
star maps and poor observing techniques meant that he failed to
recognize the observations as such until he carried out later analysis.
Challis was full of remorse but blamed his neglect on his maps and the
fact that he was distracted by his concurrent work on comet
observations.[41][37][42]

Meanwhile, Le Verrier sent a letter and urged Berlin Observatory

John Couch Adams astronomer Galle to search with the observatory's refractor. Heinrich
independently calculated
d'Arrest, a student at the observatory, suggested to Galle that they could
Neptune's position
compare a recently drawn chart of the sky in the region of Le Verrier's
predicted location with the current sky to seek the displacement
characteristic of a planet, as opposed to a fixed star. On the evening of 23 September 1846, the day Galle
received the letter, he discovered Neptune just northeast of Iota Aquarii, 1° from the "five degrees east of
Delta Capricorn" position Le Verrier had predicted it to be,[43][44] about 12° from Adams's prediction, and
on the border of Aquarius and Capricornus according to the modern IAU constellation boundaries.

In the wake of the discovery, there was a nationalistic rivalry between

the French and the British over who deserved credit for the discovery.
Eventually, an international consensus emerged that Le Verrier and
Adams deserved joint credit.[45] Since 1966, Dennis Rawlins has
questioned the credibility of Adams's claim to co-discovery, and the
issue was re-evaluated by historians with the return in 1998 of the
"Neptune papers" (historical documents) to the Royal Observatory,
Greenwich.[46][47]

Naming
Shortly after its discovery, Neptune was referred to simply as "the
planet exterior to Uranus" or as "Le Verrier's planet". The first
suggestion for a name came from Galle, who proposed the name Janus.
In England, Challis put forward the name Oceanus.[48]
The 9" refractor used by Galle
Claiming the right to name his discovery, Le Verrier quickly proposed to discover Neptune

the name Neptune for this new planet, though falsely stating that this
had been officially approved by the French Bureau des Longitudes.[49] In October, he sought to name the
planet Le Verrier, after himself, and he had loyal support in this from the observatory director, François
Arago. This suggestion met with stiff resistance outside France.[50] French almanacs quickly reintroduced
the name Herschel for Uranus, after that planet's discoverer Sir William Herschel, and Leverrier for the
new planet.[51]

Struve came out in favour of the name Neptune on 29 December 1846, to the Saint Petersburg Academy
of Sciences,[52] after the colour of the planet as viewed through a telescope.[53] Soon, Neptune became
the internationally accepted name. In Roman mythology, Neptune was the god of the sea, identified with
the Greek Poseidon. The demand for a mythological name seemed to be in keeping with the
nomenclature of the other planets, all of which were named for deities in Greek and Roman
mythology.[f][54]

Most languages today use some variant of the name "Neptune" for the planet. In Chinese, Vietnamese,
Japanese, and Korean, the planet's name was translated as "sea king star" ( 海王星 ).[55][56] In Mongolian,
Neptune is called Dalain van (Далайн ван), reflecting its namesake god's role as the ruler of the sea. In
modern Greek, the planet is called Poseidon (Ποσειδώνας, Poseidonas), the Greek counterpart of
Neptune.[57] In Hebrew, Rahab (‫)רהב‬, from a Biblical sea monster mentioned in the Book of Psalms, was
selected in a vote managed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 2009 as the official name for the
planet, even though the existing Latin term Neptun (‫ )נפטון‬is commonly used.[58][59] In Māori, the planet
is called Tangaroa, named after the Māori god of the sea.[60] In Nahuatl, the planet is called Tlāloccītlalli,
named after the rain god Tlāloc.[60] In Thai, Neptune is referred to by the Westernised name Dao
Nepchun/Nepjun (ดาวเนปจูน) but is also called Dao Ket (ดาวเกตุ, lit. 'star of Ketu'), after Ketu (के तु), the
descending lunar node, who plays a role in Hindu astrology. In Malay, the name Waruna, after the Hindu
god of seas, is attested as far back as the 1970s,[61] but was eventually superseded by the Latinate
equivalents Neptun (in Malaysian[62]) or Neptunus (in Indonesian[63]).

The usual adjectival form is Neptunian. The nonce form Poseidean (/pəˈsaɪdiən/), from Poseidon, has
also been used,[5] though the usual adjectival form of Poseidon is Poseidonian (/ˌpɒsaɪˈdoʊniən/).[64]

Status
From its discovery in 1846 until the discovery of Pluto in 1930, Neptune was the farthest known planet.
When Pluto was discovered, it was considered a planet, and Neptune thus became the second-farthest
known planet, except for a 20-year period between 1979 and 1999 when Pluto's elliptical orbit brought it
closer than Neptune to the Sun, making Neptune the ninth planet from the Sun during this period.[65][66]
The increasingly accurate estimations of Pluto's mass from ten times that of Earth's to far less than that of
the Moon[67] and the discovery of the Kuiper belt in 1992 led many astronomers to debate whether Pluto
should be considered a planet or as part of the Kuiper belt.[68][69] In 2006, the International Astronomical
Union defined the word "planet" for the first time, reclassifying Pluto as a "dwarf planet" and making
Neptune once again the outermost-known planet in the Solar System.[70]

Physical characteristics
Neptune's mass of 1.024 × 1026 kg[8] is intermediate between Earth and the larger gas giants: it is 17.15
times that of Earth but just 1/19th that of Jupiter.[g] Its gravity at 1 bar is 11.27 m/s2, 1.15 times the
surface gravity of Earth,[8] and surpassed only by Jupiter.[71] Neptune's equatorial radius of 24,764 km[11]
is nearly four times that of Earth. Neptune, like Uranus, is an ice giant, a subclass of giant planet, because
they are smaller and have higher concentrations of volatiles than Jupiter and Saturn.[72] In the search for
exoplanets, Neptune has been used as a metonym: discovered bodies of similar mass are often referred to
as "Neptunes",[73] just as scientists refer to various extrasolar bodies as "Jupiters".
Internal structure
Neptune's internal structure resembles that of Uranus. Its
atmosphere forms about 5 to 10% of its mass and extends
perhaps 10 to 20% of the way towards the core. Pressure in
the atmosphere reaches about 10 GPa, or about 105
atmospheres. Increasing concentrations of methane, ammonia
and water are found in the lower regions of the
atmosphere.[30]

The mantle is equivalent to 10 to 15 Earth masses and is rich A size comparison of Neptune and Earth
in water, ammonia and methane. [2] As is customary in
planetary science, this mixture is called
icy even though it is a hot, dense
supercritical fluid. This fluid, which has a
high electrical conductivity, is sometimes
called a water–ammonia ocean.[74] The
mantle may consist of a layer of ionic
water in which the water molecules break
down into a soup of hydrogen and
oxygen ions, and deeper down superionic
water in which the oxygen crystallizes
but the hydrogen ions float around freely Illustration of the physical component of Neptune's interior and
within the oxygen lattice.[75] At a depth its surroundings in false colours
of 7,000 km, the conditions may be such
that methane decomposes into diamond
crystals that rain downwards like hailstones.[76][77][78] Scientists believe that this kind of diamond rain
occurs on Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.[79][77] Very-high-pressure experiments at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory suggest that the top of the mantle may be an ocean of liquid carbon with floating
solid 'diamonds'.[80][81][82]

The core of Neptune is likely composed of iron, nickel and silicates, with an interior model giving a mass
about 1.2x that of Earth.[24] The pressure at the centre is 7 Mbar (700 GPa), about twice as high as that at
the centre of Earth, and the temperature may be 5,400 K (5,100 °C; 9,300 °F).[30][31]

Atmosphere
At high altitudes, Neptune's atmosphere is 80% hydrogen and 19% helium.[30] A trace amount of methane
is present. Prominent absorption bands of methane exist at wavelengths above 600 nm, in the red and
infrared portion of the spectrum. As with Uranus, this absorption of red light by atmospheric methane is
part of what gives Neptune its faint blue hue,[84] which is more pronounced for Neptune's due to
concentrated haze in Uranus's atmosphere.[85][86]

Neptune's atmosphere is subdivided into two main regions: the lower troposphere, where temperature
decreases with altitude, and the stratosphere, where temperature increases with altitude. The boundary
between the two, the tropopause, lies at a pressure of 0.1 bars (10 kPa).[25] The stratosphere then gives
way to the thermosphere at a pressure lower than 10−5 to 10−4 bars (1 to 10 Pa).[25] The thermosphere
gradually transitions to the exosphere.[87]
Models suggest that Neptune's troposphere is banded by clouds of
varying compositions depending on altitude.[83] The upper-level
clouds lie at pressures below one bar, where the temperature is
suitable for methane to condense. For pressures between one and
five bars (100 and 500 kPa), clouds of ammonia and hydrogen
sulfide are thought to form. Above a pressure of five bars, the
clouds may consist of ammonia, ammonium sulfide, hydrogen Neptune's cloud cover from 1994 to
sulfide and water. Deeper clouds of water ice should be found at 2020.[83] False colour image based
pressures of about 50 bars (5.0 MPa), where the temperature on data from WFPC2 and WFC3
reaches 273 K (0 °C; 32 °F). Underneath, clouds of ammonia and instruments of the Hubble Space
Telescope.
hydrogen sulfide may be found.[88]

High-altitude clouds on Neptune have been observed casting

shadows on the opaque cloud deck below. There are high-altitude
cloud bands that wrap around the planet at constant latitudes.
These circumferential bands have widths of 50–150 km and lie
about 50–110 km above the cloud deck.[89] These altitudes are in
the layer where weather occurs, the troposphere. Weather does not
occur in the higher stratosphere or thermosphere. In August 2023,
the high-altitude clouds of Neptune vanished, prompting a study
spanning thirty years of observations by the Hubble Space Bands of high-altitude clouds cast
Telescope and ground-based telescopes. The study found that shadows on Neptune's lower cloud
Neptune's high-altitude cloud activity is bound to Solar cycles, deck. The colour is exaggerated to
show the clouds more clearly.
and not to the planet's seasons.[83][90][91]

Neptune's spectra suggest that its lower stratosphere is hazy due to

condensation of products of ultraviolet photolysis of methane, such as ethane and ethyne.[25][30] The
stratosphere is home to trace amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.[25][92] The stratosphere
of Neptune is warmer than that of Uranus due to the elevated concentration of hydrocarbons.[25]

For reasons that remain obscure, the planet's thermosphere is at an anomalously high temperature of
about 750 K (477 °C; 890 °F).[93][94] The planet is too far from the Sun for this heat to be generated by
ultraviolet radiation. One candidate for a heating mechanism is atmospheric interaction with ions in the
planet's magnetic field. Other candidates are gravity waves from the interior that dissipate in the
atmosphere. The thermosphere contains traces of carbon dioxide and water, which may have been
deposited from external sources such as meteorites and dust.[88][92]

Colour
Neptune's atmosphere is faintly blue in the optical spectrum, only slightly more saturated than the blue of
Uranus's atmosphere. Early renderings of the two planets greatly exaggerated Neptune's colour contrast
"to better reveal the clouds, bands and winds", making it seem deep blue compared to Uranus's off-white.
The two planets had been imaged with different systems, making it hard to directly compare the resulting
composite images. This was revisited with the colour normalised over time, most comprehensively in late
2023.[86][95]
 Original 2-colour (orange-green) Colour recalibrated in 2016
NASA/JPL image from Voyager 2, (Justin Cowart), preserving some
with exaggerated colour[96] enhancement for contrast[97]

Colour recalibrated in 2023

(Patrick Irwin), approximating the
true colour[98]

Magnetosphere
Neptune's magnetosphere consists of a magnetic field that is strongly tilted relative to its rotational axis at
47° and offset of at least 0.55 radius (~13,500 km) from the planet's physical centre—resembling
Uranus's magnetosphere. Before the arrival of Voyager 2 to Neptune, it was hypothesised that Uranus's
sideways rotation caused its tilted magnetosphere. In comparing the magnetic fields of the two planets,
scientists now think the extreme orientation may be characteristic of flows in the planets' interiors. This
field may be generated by convective fluid motions in a thin spherical shell of electrically conducting
liquids (probably a combination of ammonia, methane and water),[88] resulting in a dynamo action.[99]

The dipole component of the magnetic field at the magnetic equator of Neptune is about 14 microteslas
(0.14 G).[100] The dipole magnetic moment of Neptune is about 2.2 × 1017 T·m3 (14 μT·RN3, where RN is
the radius of Neptune). Neptune's magnetic field has a complex geometry that includes relatively large
contributions from non-dipolar components, including a strong quadrupole moment that may exceed the
dipole moment in strength. By contrast, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn have only relatively small quadrupole
moments, and their fields are less tilted from the polar axis. The large quadrupole moment of Neptune
may be the result of an offset from the planet's centre and geometrical constraints of the field's dynamo
generator.[101][102]

Neptune's bow shock, where the magnetosphere begins to slow the solar wind, occurs at a distance of
34.9 times the radius of the planet. The magnetopause, where the pressure of the magnetosphere
counterbalances the solar wind, lies at a distance of 23–26.5 times the radius of Neptune. The tail of the
magnetosphere extends out to at least 72 times the radius of Neptune, and likely much farther.[101]

Measurements by Voyager 2 in extreme-ultraviolet and radio

frequencies revealed that Neptune has faint and weak but
complex and unique aurorae; however, these observations
were limited in time and did not contain infrared. Subsequent
astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have not
glimpsed the aurorae, in contrast to the more well-defined
aurorae of Uranus.[103][104] In March 2025, aurorae on
Left: a visible light image of Neptune
Neptune were pictured for the first time by combining visible taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
light images from the Hubble Space Telescope with near-
Right: the Hubble image composited with
infrared (NIR) images from the James Webb Space Telescope. a near-infrared image taken by the
The relevant data were taken in June 2023. The James Webb James Webb Telescope. As the aurorae
Space Telescope attempted to learn the spectrography of cannot be observed in the visible band,
Neptune's atmosphere and it was able to find trihydrogen their image in near-infrared has been
+ rendered as shades of cyan.
cations (H3 ) which is generated during an aurora and is
considered as a clear indicator of auroral activity on both gas
giants and ice giants. The nature of Neptune's aurorae is
greatly influenced by the peculiar nature of its magnetic field. Unlike the Earth, Jupiter or Saturn,
Neptune's magnetic poles are not aligned with the planet's rotational poles which is why Neptune's
aurorae mostly occur around its mid-latitude areas instead of its poles like on Earth or Jupiter.[105]

Climate
Neptune's weather is characterized by extremely dynamic storm systems, with winds reaching speeds of
almost 600 m/s (2,200 km/h; 1,300 mph)—exceeding supersonic flow.[29] More typically, by tracking the
motion of persistent clouds, wind speeds have been shown to vary from 20 m/s in the easterly direction to
325 m/s westward.[107] At the cloud tops, the prevailing winds range in speed from 400 m/s along the
equator to 250 m/s at the poles.[88] Most of the winds on Neptune move in a direction opposite the
planet's rotation.[108] The general pattern of winds showed prograde rotation at high latitudes vs.
retrograde rotation at lower latitudes. The difference in flow direction is thought to be a "skin effect" and
not due to any deeper atmospheric processes.[25] At 70°S latitude, a high-speed jet travels at a speed of
300 m/s.[25] Due to seasonal changes, the cloud bands in the southern hemisphere of Neptune have been
observed to increase in size and albedo. This trend was first seen in 1980. The long orbital period of
Neptune results in seasons lasting 40 Earth years.[109]

Neptune differs from Uranus in its typical level of meteorological activity. Voyager 2 observed weather
phenomena on Neptune during its 1989 flyby,[110] but no comparable phenomena on Uranus during its
1986 flyby.
The abundance of methane, ethane and acetylene at Neptune's
equator is 10–100 times greater than at the poles. This is
interpreted as evidence for upwelling at the equator and
subsidence near the poles, as photochemistry cannot account
for the distribution without meridional circulation.[25]

In 2007, it was discovered that the upper troposphere of

Neptune's south pole was about 10 K warmer than the rest of
its atmosphere, which averages about 73 K (−200 °C). The
temperature differential is enough to let methane, which
elsewhere is frozen in the troposphere, escape into the
stratosphere near the pole.[111] The relative "hot spot" is due
The Great Dark Spot (top), Scooter
to Neptune's axial tilt, which has exposed the south pole to
(middle white cloud),[106] and the Small
the Sun for the last quarter of Neptune's year, or roughly 40
Dark Spot (bottom), with contrast
Earth years. As Neptune slowly moves towards the opposite exaggerated
side of the Sun, the south pole will be darkened and the north
pole illuminated, causing the methane release to shift to the
north pole.[112]

Storms
In 1989, the Great Dark Spot, an anticyclonic storm system
spanning 13,000 km × 6,600 km (8,100 mi × 4,100 mi),[110] was
discovered by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. The storm resembled
the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. Some five years later, on 2 November
1994, the Hubble Space Telescope did not see the Great Dark Spot
on the planet. Instead, a new storm similar to the Great Dark Spot
was found in Neptune's northern hemisphere.[113]

The Scooter is another storm, a white cloud group farther south than
the Great Dark Spot. This nickname first arose during the months
leading up to the Voyager 2 encounter in 1989, when they were
observed moving at speeds faster than the Great Dark Spot (and
images acquired later would subsequently reveal the presence of
The Great Dark Spot imaged by
clouds moving even faster than those that had initially been detected
Voyager 2 in an enhanced colour
by Voyager 2).[108] The Small Dark Spot is a southern cyclonic image
storm, the second-most-intense storm observed during the 1989
encounter. It was initially completely dark, but as Voyager 2
approached the planet, a bright core developed, which can be seen in most of the highest-resolution
images.[114] In 2018, a newer main dark spot and smaller dark spot were identified and studied.[28] In
2023, the first ground-based observation of a dark spot on Neptune was announced.[115]

Neptune's dark spots are thought to occur in the troposphere at lower altitudes than the brighter cloud
features,[117] so they appear as holes in the upper cloud decks. As they are stable features that can persist
for several months, they are thought to be vortex structures.[89] Often associated with dark spots are
brighter, persistent methane clouds that form around the tropopause layer.[118] The persistence of
 companion clouds shows that some former
dark spots may continue to exist as cyclones
even though they are no longer visible as a
dark feature. Dark spots may dissipate when
they migrate too close to the equator or
possibly through some other, unknown
mechanism.[119]

The Northern Great Dark The Northern Great Dark

Spot imaged by Hubble in Spot and a smaller
2018 companion storm imaged by
Hubble in 2020

Four images taken a few hours

apart with the NASA/ESA Hubble
Neptune's SDS-2015[116] vortex in around two years, which Space Telescope's Wide Field
has appeared to be shrinking and disappearing Camera 3. Near-infrared radiation
data has been used as a red
channel.[120]
In 1989, Voyager 2's Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) experiment
observed around 60 lightning flashes, or Neptunian electrostatic
discharges emitting energies over 7 × 108 J.[121] A plasma wave system (PWS) detected 16
electromagnetic wave events with a frequency range of 50–12 kHz at magnetic latitudes 7–33˚.[122][123]
These plasma wave detections were possibly triggered by lightning over 20 minutes in the ammonia
clouds of the magnetosphere.[123]

During Voyager 2's closest approach to Neptune, the PWS instrument provided Neptune's first plasma
wave detections at a sample rate of 28,800 samples per second.[123] The measured plasma densities range
from 10−3 – 10−1 cm3.[123][124] Neptunian lightning may occur in three cloud layers,[125] with
microphysical modelling suggesting that most of these occurrences happen in the water clouds of the
troposphere or the shallow ammonia clouds of the magnetosphere.[122][126] Neptune is predicted to have
1/19 the lightning flash rate of Jupiter and to display most of its lightning activity at high latitudes.
However, lightning on Neptune seems to resemble lightning on Earth rather than Jovian lightning.[121]

Internal heating
Neptune's more varied weather when compared to Uranus is due in part to its higher internal heating. The
upper regions of Neptune's troposphere reach a low temperature of 51.8 K (−221.3 °C). At a depth where
the atmospheric pressure equals 1 bar (100 kPa), the temperature is 72.00 K (−201.15 °C).[127] Deeper
inside the layers of gas, the temperature rises steadily. As with Uranus, the source of this heating is
unknown, but the discrepancy is larger: Uranus only radiates 1.1 times as much energy as it receives from
the Sun;[128] whereas Neptune radiates about 2.61 times as much energy as it receives from the Sun.[16]

Neptune is over 50% farther from the Sun than Uranus and receives only ~40% of Uranus's amount of
sunlight;[25] however, its internal energy is still enough for the fastest planetary winds in the Solar
System. Depending on the thermal properties of its interior, the heat left over from Neptune's formation
may be sufficient to explain its current heat flow, though it is harder to explain Uranus's lack of internal
heat while preserving the apparent similarity between the two planets.[129]

Orbit and rotation

The average distance between Neptune and the Sun is
4.5 billion km (about 30.1 astronomical units (AU), the mean
distance from the Earth to the Sun), and it completes an orbit on
average every 164.79 years, subject to a variability of around
±0.1 years. The perihelion distance is 29.81 AU, and the aphelion
distance is 30.33 AU.[h] Neptune's orbital eccentricity is only
0.008678, making it the planet in the Solar System with the second
most circular orbit after Venus.[131] The orbit of Neptune is inclined
1.77° compared to that of Earth.

On 11 July 2011, Neptune completed its first full barycentric orbit

since its discovery in 1846;[132] it did not appear at its exact Neptune (red arc) completes one
orbit around the Sun (centre) for
discovery position in the sky because Earth was in a different
every 164.79 orbits of Earth. The
location in its 365.26-day orbit. Because of the motion of the Sun in light blue dot represents Uranus.
relation to the barycentre of the Solar System, on 11 July, Neptune
was not at its exact discovery position in relation to the Sun—if the
more common heliocentric coordinate system is used, the discovery longitude was reached on 12 July
2011.[12][133][134][135]

The axial tilt of Neptune is 28.32°,[136] which is similar to the tilts of Earth (23°) and Mars (25°). As a
result, Neptune experiences seasonal changes similar to those on Earth. The long orbital period of
Neptune means that the seasons last for forty Earth years.[109] Its sidereal rotation period (day) is roughly
16.11 hours.[12] Because its axial tilt is comparable to Earth's, the variation in the length of its day over
the course of its long year is not any more extreme.

Because Neptune is not a solid body, its atmosphere undergoes differential rotation. The wide equatorial
zone rotates with a period of about 18 hours, which is slower than the 16.1-hour rotation of the planet's
magnetic field. By contrast, the reverse is true for the polar regions where the rotation period is 12 hours.
This differential rotation is the most pronounced of any planet in the Solar System,[137] and it results in
strong latitudinal wind shear.[89]
Formation and resonances

Formation

A simulation showing the outer planets and Kuiper belt: a) before Jupiter and Saturn
reached a 2:1 resonance; b) after inward scattering of Kuiper belt objects following
the orbital shift of Neptune; c) after ejection of scattered Kuiper belt bodies by
Jupiter

The formation of the ice giants, Neptune and Uranus, has been difficult to model precisely. Current
models suggest that the matter density in the outer regions of the Solar System was too low to account for
the formation of such large bodies from the traditionally accepted method of core accretion, and various
hypotheses have been advanced to explain their formation. One is that the ice giants were not formed by
core accretion but from instabilities within the original protoplanetary disc and later had their
atmospheres blasted away by radiation from a nearby massive OB star.[72]

An alternative concept is that they formed closer to the Sun, where the matter density was higher, and
then subsequently migrated to their current orbits after the removal of the gaseous protoplanetary
disc.[138] This hypothesis of migration after formation is favoured due to its ability to better explain the
occupancy of the populations of small objects observed in the trans-Neptunian region.[139] The current
most widely accepted[140][141][142] explanation of the details of this hypothesis is known as the Nice
model, which is a dynamical evolution scenario that explores the potential effect of a migrating Neptune
and the other giant planets on the structure of the Kuiper belt.

Orbital resonances
Neptune's orbit has a profound impact on the region directly beyond it, known as the Kuiper belt. The
Kuiper belt is a ring of small icy worlds, similar to the asteroid belt but far larger, extending from
Neptune's orbit at 30 AU out to about 55 AU from the Sun.[143] Much in the same way that Jupiter's
gravity dominates the asteroid belt, Neptune's gravity dominates the Kuiper belt. Over the age of the
Solar System, certain regions of the Kuiper belt became destabilised by Neptune's gravity, creating gaps
in its structure. The region between 40 and 42 AU is an example.[144]

There do exist orbits within these empty regions where objects can survive for the age of the Solar
System. These resonances occur when Neptune's orbital period is a precise fraction of that of the object,
such as 1:2, or 3:4. If, say, an object orbits the Sun once for every two Neptune orbits, it will only
complete half an orbit by the time Neptune returns to its original position. The most heavily populated
resonance in the Kuiper belt, with over 200 known
objects,[145] is the 2:3 resonance. Objects in this resonance
complete 2 orbits for every 3 of Neptune, and are known as
plutinos because the largest of the known Kuiper belt objects,
Pluto, is among them.[146] Although Pluto crosses Neptune's
orbit regularly, the 2:3 resonance makes it so that they can
never collide.[147] The 3:4, 3:5, 4:7 and 2:5 resonances are
less populated.[148]

Neptune has a number of known trojan objects occupying

both the Sun–Neptune L4 and L5 Lagrangian points— A diagram showing the major orbital
gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing Neptune in resonances in the Kuiper belt caused by
its orbit, respectively.[149] Neptune trojans can be viewed as Neptune: the highlighted regions are the
being in a 1:1 resonance with Neptune. Some Neptune trojans 2:3 resonance (plutinos), the
nonresonant "classical belt"
are remarkably stable in their orbits, and are likely to have
(cubewanos), and the 1:2 resonance
formed alongside Neptune rather than being captured. The (twotinos).
first object identified as associated with Neptune's trailing L5
Lagrangian point was 2008 LC18.[150] Neptune has a
temporary quasi-satellite, (309239) 2007 RW10.[151] The object has been a quasi-satellite of Neptune for
about 12,500 years and it will remain in that dynamical state for another 12,500 years.[151]

Moons
Neptune has 16 known moons.[152] Triton is the largest
Neptunian moon, accounting for more than 99.5% of the mass
in orbit around Neptune,[i] and is the only one massive
enough to be spheroidal. Triton was discovered by William
Lassell just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself.
Unlike all other large planetary moons in the Solar System,
Triton has a retrograde orbit, indicating that it was captured
rather than forming in place; it was probably once a dwarf
planet in the Kuiper belt.[153] It is close enough to Neptune to
be locked into a synchronous rotation, and it is slowly
spiralling inward because of tidal acceleration. It will
eventually be torn apart, in about 3.6 billion years, when it
reaches the Roche limit.[154] In 1989, Triton was the coldest An annotated picture of Neptune's many
object that had yet been measured in the Solar System,[155] moons as captured by the James Webb
with estimated temperatures of 38 K (−235 °C).[156][157] This Space Telescope. The bright blue
very low temperature is due to Triton's very high albedo diffraction star is Triton, Neptune's largest
which causes it to reflect a lot of sunlight instead of absorbing moon.

it.[158][159]

Neptune's second-known satellite (by order of discovery), the irregular moon Nereid, has one of the most
eccentric orbits of any satellite in the Solar System. The eccentricity of 0.7512 gives it an apoapsis that is
seven times its periapsis distance from Neptune.[j]
From July to September 1989, Voyager 2 discovered six moons of Neptune.[160] Of these, the irregularly
shaped Proteus is notable for being as large as a body of its density can be without being pulled into a
spherical shape by its own gravity.[161] Although the second-most-massive Neptunian moon, it is only
0.25% the mass of Triton. Neptune's innermost four moons—Naiad, Thalassa, Despina and Galatea—
orbit close enough to be within Neptune's rings. The next-farthest out, Larissa, was originally discovered
in 1981 when it had occulted a star. This occultation had been attributed to ring arcs, but when Voyager 2
observed Neptune in 1989, Larissa was found to have caused it. Five new irregular moons discovered
between 2002 and 2003 were announced in 2004.[162][163] A new moon and the smallest yet, Hippocamp,
was found in 2013 by combining multiple Hubble images.[164] Because Neptune was the Roman god of
the sea, Neptune's moons have been named after lesser sea gods.[54]

Planetary rings
Neptune has a planetary ring system, though one much less
substantial than that of Saturn and Uranus.[165] The rings may
consist of ice particles coated with silicates or carbon-based
material, which most likely gives them a reddish hue.[166] The
three main rings are the narrow Adams Ring, 63,000 km from
the centre of Neptune, the Le Verrier Ring, at 53,000 km, and
the broader, fainter Galle Ring, at 42,000 km. A faint outward
extension to the Le Verrier Ring has been named Lassell; it is
bounded at its outer edge by the Arago Ring at
Neptune's rings and moons viewed in
57,000 km.[167] infrared by the James Webb Space
Telescope, in 2022.
The first of these planetary rings was detected in 1968 by a
team led by Edward Guinan.[32][168] In the early 1980s,
analysis of this data along with newer observations led to the hypothesis that this ring might be
incomplete.[169] Evidence that the rings might have gaps first arose during a stellar occultation in 1984
when the rings obscured a star on immersion but not on emersion.[170] Images from Voyager 2 in 1989
settled the issue by showing several faint rings.

The outermost ring, Adams, contains five prominent arcs now named Courage, Liberté, Egalité 1,
Egalité 2 and Fraternité (Courage, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity).[171] The existence of arcs was
difficult to explain because the laws of motion would predict that arcs would spread out into a uniform
ring over short timescales. Astronomers now estimate that the arcs are corralled into their current form by
the gravitational effects of Galatea, a moon just inward from the ring.[172][173]

Earth-based observations announced in 2005 appeared to show that Neptune's rings were much more
unstable than previously thought. Images taken from the W. M. Keck Observatory in 2002 and 2003 show
considerable decay in the rings when compared to images by Voyager 2. In particular, it seems that the
Liberté arc might disappear in as little as one century.[174]
Observation
Neptune brightened about 10% between 1980 and 2000
mostly due to the changing of the seasons.[175] Neptune may
continue to brighten as it approaches perihelion in 2042. The
apparent magnitude currently ranges from 7.67 to 7.89 with a
mean of 7.78 and a standard deviation of 0.06.[18] Prior to
1980, the planet was as faint as magnitude 8.0.[18] Neptune is
too faint to be visible to the naked eye. It can be outshone by
Jupiter's Galilean moons, the dwarf planet Ceres and the
asteroids 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, 7 Iris, 3 Juno, and 6 Hebe.[176] A
telescope or strong binoculars will resolve Neptune as a small
blue disk, similar in appearance to Uranus.[177]

Because of the distance of Neptune from Earth, its angular

diameter only ranges from 2.2 to 2.4 arcseconds,[8][20] the
smallest of the Solar System planets. Its small apparent size
makes it challenging to study visually. Most telescopic data
was fairly limited until the advent of the Hubble Space
Telescope and large ground-based telescopes with adaptive
optics (AO).[178][179][180] The first scientifically useful
observation of Neptune from ground-based telescopes using
Movement of Neptune in front of the stars
adaptive optics was commenced in 1997 from Hawaii.[181]
of Aquarius in 2022
Neptune is currently approaching perihelion (closest approach
to the Sun) and has been shown to be heating up, with
increased atmospheric activity and brightness as a consequence. Combined with technological
advancements, ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics are recording increasingly more detailed
images of it. Both Hubble and the adaptive-optics telescopes on Earth have made many new discoveries
within the Solar System since the mid-1990s, with a large increase in the number of known satellites and
moons around the outer planet, among others. In 2004 and 2005, five new small satellites of Neptune
with diameters between 38 and 61 kilometres were discovered.[182]

From Earth, Neptune goes through apparent retrograde motion every 367 days, resulting in a looping
motion against the background stars during each opposition. These loops carried it close to the 1846
discovery coordinates in April and July 2010 and again in October and November 2011.[135]

Neptune's 164-year orbital period means that the planet takes an average of 13 years to move through
each constellation of the zodiac. In 2011, it completed its first full orbit of the Sun since being discovered
and returned to where it was first spotted northeast of Iota Aquarii.[43]

Observation of Neptune in the radio-frequency band shows that it is a source of both continuous emission
and irregular bursts. Both sources are thought to originate from its rotating magnetic field.[88] In the
infrared part of the spectrum, Neptune's storms appear bright against the cooler background, allowing the
size and shape of these features to be readily tracked.[183]
Exploration
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft that has visited
Neptune. The spacecraft's closest approach to the
planet occurred on 25 August 1989. Because this
was the last major planet the spacecraft could visit,
it was decided to make a close flyby of the moon
Triton, regardless of the consequences to the
trajectory, similarly to what was done for Voyager
1's encounter with Saturn and its moon Titan. The
images relayed back to Earth from Voyager 2
became the basis of a 1989 PBS all-night program,
Neptune All Night.[184]

During the encounter, signals from the spacecraft An animation of Voyager 2's trajectory from 20
required 246 minutes to reach Earth. Hence, for the August 1977 to 30 December 2000 Voyager 2 ·
Earth · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus ·
most part, Voyager 2 's mission relied on preloaded
Neptune · Sun
commands for the Neptune encounter. The
spacecraft performed a near-encounter with the
moon Nereid before it came within 4,400 km of Neptune's atmosphere on 25 August, then passed close to
the planet's largest moon Triton later the same day.[185]

The spacecraft verified the existence of a magnetic field surrounding the planet and discovered that the
field was offset from the centre and tilted in a manner similar to the field around Uranus. Neptune's
rotation period was determined using measurements of radio emissions and Voyager 2 showed that
Neptune had a surprisingly active weather system. Six new moons were discovered, and the planet was
shown to have more than one ring.[160][185] The flyby provided the first accurate measurement of
Neptune's mass which was found to be 0.5 per cent less than previously calculated. The new figure
disproved the hypothesis that an undiscovered Planet X acted upon the orbits of Neptune and
Uranus.[186][187]

Since 2018, the China National Space Administration has been studying a concept for a pair of Voyager-
like interstellar probes tentatively known as Shensuo.[188] Both probes would be launched in the 2020s
and take differing paths to explore opposing ends of the heliosphere; the second probe, IHP-2, would fly
by Neptune in January 2038, passing only 1,000 km above the cloud tops, and potentially carry an
atmospheric impactor to be released during its approach.[189] Afterward, it will continue its mission
throughout the Kuiper belt toward the heliosphere tail, which is so far unexplored.

After Voyager 2 and IHP-2's flybys, the next step in scientific exploration of the Neptunian system is
considered to be an orbital mission; most proposals have been by NASA, most often for a Flagship
orbiter.[190] In 2003, there was a proposal in NASA's "Vision Missions Studies" for a "Neptune Orbiter
with Probes" mission that does Cassini-level science.[191] A subsequent proposal, that was not selected,
was for Argo, a flyby spacecraft to be launched in 2019, that would visit Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and a
Kuiper belt object. The focus would have been on Neptune and its largest moon Triton to be investigated
around 2029.[192]
The proposed New Horizons 2 mission might have done a close flyby of the Neptunian system, but it was
later scrapped. Currently a pending proposal for the Discovery Program, the Trident spacecraft would
conduct a flyby of Neptune and Triton;[193] however, the mission was not selected for Discovery 15 or
16. Neptune Odyssey is another concept for a Neptune orbiter and atmospheric probe that was studied as
a possible large strategic science mission by NASA; it would have launched between 2031 and 2033, and
arrive at Neptune by 2049.[194] However, for logistical reasons the Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission was
selected as the ice giant orbiter mission recommendation, with top priority ahead of the Enceladus
Orbilander.[195]

Two notable proposals for a Triton-focused Neptune orbiter mission that would be costed right between
the Trident and Odyssey missions (under the New Frontiers program) are Triton Ocean World Surveyor
and Nautilus, with cruise stages taking place in the 2031–47 and 2041–56 time periods,
respectively.[196][197] Neptune is a potential target for China's Tianwen-5, which could arrive in 2058.[198]

See also
Outline of Neptune Neptunium
Hot Neptune Neptune, the Mystic – one of the seven
Neptune in astrology movements in Gustav Holst's Planets suite
Neptune in fiction Timeline of the far future
Stats of planets in the Solar System

Notes
a. Neptune's dark spots are not permanent features; the large dark spot observed by Voyager
2 was designated GDS-89 for "Great Dark Spot 1989".
b. Orbital elements refer to the Neptune barycentre and Solar System barycentre. These are
the instantaneous osculating values at the precise J2000 epoch. Barycentre quantities are
given because, in contrast to the planetary centre, they do not experience appreciable
changes on a day-to-day basis from the motion of the moons.
c. Refers to the level of 1 bar (100 kPa) atmospheric pressure
d. Based on the volume within the level of 1 bar atmospheric pressure
e. A second symbol, an 'LV' monogram for 'Le Verrier', analogous to the 'H' monogram
for Uranus. It was never much used outside of France and is now archaic.
f. One could argue that it is true except for the 'Earth', which in the English language is the
name of a Germanic deity, Erda. The IAU policy is that one may call the Earth and the Moon
by any name commonly used in the language. According to the IAU, 'Terra' and 'Luna' are
not the official names of planet Earth and its moon: "Naming of Astronomical Objects" (http
s://[Link]/public/themes/naming/). International Astronomical Union. Archived (https://
[Link]/web/20240321174041/[Link] from the
original on 21 March 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
g. The mass of Earth is 5.9722 × 1024 kg, giving a mass ratio

The mass of Uranus is 8.6810 × 1025 kg, giving a mass ratio

 The mass of Jupiter is 1.8986 × 1027 kg, giving a mass ratio

Mass values from Williams, David R. (29 November 2007). "Planetary Fact Sheet – Metric"
([Link] NASA. Archived ([Link]
web/20140905165712/[Link] from the original on 5
September 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
h. The last three aphelia were 30.33 AU, the next is 30.34 AU. The perihelia are even more
stable at 29.81 AU.[130]
i. Mass of Triton: 2.14 × 1022 kg. Combined mass of 12 other known moons of Neptune:
7.53 × 1019 kg, or 0.35%. The mass of the rings is negligible.
j.

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Bibliography
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Moore, Patrick (2000). The Data Book of Astronomy. Baton Rouge: Taylor & Francis Group.
ISBN 978-0-7503-0620-1.

Further reading
Miner, Ellis D.; Wessen, Randii R. (2002). Neptune: The Planet, Rings, and Satellites.
Springer-Praxis books in astronomy and space sciences. London; New York: Springer.
ISBN 978-1-85233-216-7.
Standage, Tom (2000). The Neptune File: A Story of Astronomical Rivalry and the Pioneers
of Planet Hunting ([Link] New York: Walker.
ISBN 978-0-8027-1363-6.

External links
NASA's Neptune fact sheet ([Link]
ml) Archived ([Link]
etary/factsheet/[Link]) 1 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
Neptune ([Link] from Bill Arnett's [Link]
Neptune ([Link] Astronomy Cast
episode No. 63, includes full transcript.
Neptune Profile ([Link]
planets/[Link]?Object=Neptune) (archived 15 November 2002) at NASA's Solar System
Exploration site ([Link]
Interactive 3D gravity simulation of Neptune and its inner moons ([Link]
g/solar-system/the-neptunian-system) Archived ([Link]
20/[Link] 22 September 2020 at
the Wayback Machine

Retrieved from "[Link]