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Neptune is a fluid planet, which means you could not stand on it.
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Neptune has 8 known moons, one of which, Triton, is very similar to
the planet Pluto. Triton is made of methane ice, rotates opposite the planet,
and is getting closer to it. It will eventually crash into the planet and
form a ring system. Triton is colder than any other object ever measured
in the solar system. Its record low temperature is 391 degrees below zero.
Sections of Triton are covered with a pinkish "snow" of frozen nitrogen
and methane. It has active ice volcanoes, and when they erupt, shoot nitrogen
ice and gas about 25 miles high. Triton orbits "backwards" and scientists
think that it might have formed independently of Neptune and then was captured
by the planet's gravity.
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Neptune's atmosphere is mostly helium and hydrogen.
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The Space Probe Voyager 2 flew past Neptune in 1989 and observed a Great
Dark Spot in the southern hemisphere. In 1994 close observations of Neptune
showed that the great dark spot was gone! It has either simply disappeared
or it is currently hidden by other aspects of the atmosphere. A few months
later a new dark spot was discovered in Neptune's northern hemisphere.
This tells scientists that Neptune's atmosphere changes rapidly.
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Tremendous hurricanes large enough to swallow our entire planet Earth
rage across the frozen planet. The winds blow up to 700 miles per hour,
the fastest in the solar system.
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Prior to 1989 scientists thought Neptune had a series of demi-rings
that look like a dotted line around the planet, but Voyager 2 showed them
as complete rings. There are two bright outer rings, a weaker inner ring,
and a thin ring of dust. Scientist feel there may be a fifth ring. The
rings are made of tiny frozen bits of matter.
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From 1979 through 1999 Neptune was the the most distant planet in our
solar system, with Pluto closer to Earth. That happens for twenty years,
every two hundred and fifty years..
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The "Scooter" is a small irregular white cloud that zips around the
planet every 16 hours.
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It takes over 164 Earth years for Neptune to travel one time around
the Sun.
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It only takes 16 hours for Neptune to rotate on its axis, so this means
its day is shorter than a day on Earth.
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