Neptune

Overview

Neptune is the eighth-closest and the farthest planet from the sun. Seeking explanations for irregularities in Uranus's orbit, astronomers predicted Neptune's existence before it was observed in 1846, making it the only planet discovered through mathematics. For its appearance, Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea, while its moons have been named after mythological figures associated with Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.

Like the other planets of the solar system, Neptune formed about 4.5 billion years ago from the remains of the gas cloud that became the sun and protoplanetary disk. Current models describe Neptune as possessing an Earth-sized, rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water, ammonia, and methane in a hot, dense, supercritical state. Its atmosphere is mostly hydrogen, some helium, and trace amounts of methane, which absorbs red light and reflects blue light, giving Neptune its color.

Neptune has the fastest sustained winds of any planet, with some exceeding the speed of sound, and occasionally features short-lived dark spots resembling Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Neptune emits 2.6 times more energy than it receives from sunlight, which is hypothesized to come from leftover formation energy and gravitational contraction in its interior.

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