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The Solar System: Neptune |
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Neptune Facts |
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Diameter: 49,528 km (30,775 miles) |
Time for one rotation: 15 hours 57 minutes |
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| While Neptune’s ice giant neighbor, Uranus, is a blue-green color due to high levels of methane in its atmosphere, Neptune is mostly hydrogen and helium, giving it a brighter shade of blue.
Neptune has three major rings – Adams, Le Verrier and Galle. This ring system is much fainter than that of the other gas giants. In fact, some of the rings are so dim that it was believed at one time that they were incomplete. However, images from the Voyager 2 fly-bys show extremely faint rings. There are 13 known moons and one provisional moon around Neptune. Triton is the largest moon and was discovered in 1846, just 17 days after the discovery of the planet. It is the only large moon within our solar system that circles its planet in the opposite direction of the planet’s rotation.
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Earth Facts |
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Diameter: 12,742 Km (7,896 miles) |
Time for one rotation: 24 hours |
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The Solar System page 11 |
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