What are Some Prominent Features of Neptune?
Neptune is a darkish-blue gas giant in the outer solar system. It orbits about 30 AUs (Earth-Sun distances) from the Sun, making a revolution every 165 years. Since Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006, Neptune has been the outermost planet in the solar system. Neptune was discovered in 1846 by the French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier, who inferred its existence by examining the orbit of Uranus. It was named after the Roman god of the sea, in keeping with all the other planets which were named after ancient gods. Neptune has a volume of 57.7 Earths and a mass of 17.1 Earths. Its diameter is slightly less than four Earths. Like the other gas giants, Neptune is mainly made up of hydrogen gas. It gets its deep blue color from trace methane ices suspended in its atmosphere. Because its composition varies somewhat from Jupiter and Saturn, along with Uranus it is sometimes called an ice giant. Neptune is relevant to solar system dynamics because its gravitational pull stabilizes a 2nd
