Neptune

Welcome to my Neptune Page. Neptune is one of the two planets that cannot be seen without a telescope. The other is Pluto. Neptune is about 30 times as far from the sun as is Earth. Pluto is the only planet farther from the sun than Neptune. But every 248 years Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for about a 20-year period, during which it is closer to the sun than Neptune. Pluto last crossed Neptune's orbit on Jan. 23, 1979, and remained within it until Feb. 11, 1999. Neptune is the last planet(Pluto is not a planet anymore, but I'm going to include it)from the sun. Its average distance from the sun is about 2,793,100,000 miles. Neptune orbits the sun every 165 Earth years. Scientists believe that Neptune is made up chiefly of hydrogen, helium, water, and silicates. Silicates are the minerals that make up most of Earth's rocky crust, though Neptune does not have a solid surface like Earth. Thick clouds cover Neptune's surface. Its interior begins with a region of heavily compressed gases. Deep in the interior, these gases blend into a liquid layer that surrounds the planet's central core of rock and ice. The tilt of its axis causes the sun to heat the Neptune's northern and southern halves alternately, resulting in seasons and temperature changes. Voyager 2(which also reached Uranus) provided the first close-up views of Neptune and most of its moons. The spacecraft also discovered the planet's rings and six of its moons -- Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Naiad, Proteus, and Thalassa.