Welcome to Neptune!
The distant blue planet
Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet from the Sun. It is a cold, blue world so far away that it cannot usually be seen without a telescope or binoculars.
Neptune was discovered after astronomers noticed that something was disturbing the orbit of Uranus. They used mathematics to predict where another planet should be — and when they looked, they found Neptune.
Neptune quick facts
Position
Eighth planet from the Sun
Planet type
Ice giant
Average distance
4,495,060,000 km
2,793,099,927 milesDiameter
49,244 km
30,599 milesDay length
16 hours, 7 mins
Year length
164 years, 292 days
Temperature
-201 °C
-331 °F
Moons
Neptune in context
Where is Neptune?
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun. It orbits far beyond Uranus and takes almost 165 Earth years to complete one journey around the Sun.
Explore Neptune
Find out more about Neptune by exploring its dark storms, moons, distant world and the spacecraft that visited it.
Neptune's Dark Spots
Discover the dark storm systems seen in Neptune’s atmosphere and how they compare with storms on other planets.
Explore Neptune's dark spots →Moons of Neptune
Meet Neptune’s family of moons, including Triton, one of the strangest moons in the Solar System.
Explore Neptune's moons →Table of Neptune's Moons
Compare Neptune’s moons by size, distance, orbit and discovery.
View the moon table →Voyager 2 at Neptune
Learn about the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune and what it discovered during its 1989 flyby.
Visit the Voyager mission →Ten Facts about Neptune
A quick collection of fascinating facts about the Solar System’s most distant planet.
Read Neptune facts →
