1. The Windy Planet

2. Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. (Neptune was predicted by John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier.) Johann Galle discovered the planet in 1846. Neptune is not visible to the naked eye. You would need a telescope in order to view Neptune from Earth. Named after the Roman god of the sea. DISCOVERY

3. Distance: 30 AU from the sun 0.0085 Eccentricity 28.3 degree tilt (seasons last 40 years!) Gravity: 11.15 m/s 2 Rotation rate: 16 hours Revolution rate:165 years 13 Moons A 14th tiny, very dim, moon was discovered in 2013 and awaits official recognition 6 rings 4 th largest planet BY THE NUMBERS

4. GREAT DARK SPOT The Great Dark Spot was a huge spinning storm in the southern atmosphere of Neptune which was about the size of the entire Earth. Winds in this storm were measured at speeds of up to 1,500 miles per hour. These were the strongest winds ever recorded on any planet in the solar system! The great dark spot and the small dark spot are oval-shaped anticyclones (spin opposite from Neptunes rotation) in Neptune's atmosphere that are thought to be caused by the difference in temperature between the heat-producing core and the frigid cloud tops.

5. Hydrogen, Helium, Methane Planets Neptune does not have a solid surface, but its atmosphere extends to great depths, gradually merging into water and other melted ices over a heavier, approximately Earth-size solid core. Planets get their color from what they are made of -- their composition. Both Uranus and Neptune get their blue-green color from methane, but Neptune is a more vivid and brighter blue, which points to Neptune having an unknown component. ATMOSPHERE

6. Voyager 2Voyager 2 in 1989. The Voyager data revealed that the Great Dark Spot varied significantly in size during the brief flyby. When the Hubble Space Telescope viewed the planet in 1994, the spot had vanished -- only to be replaced by another dark spot in the planet's northern hemisphere!the Great Dark Spot variedHubble Space Telescope viewedthe spot had vanishedanother dark spot MISSIONS