The Farthest Planet In The Solar System: How Far Is Neptune From The Sun?

More details: Found here

Headlines:

• NASA's Perseverance rover discovers evidence of ancient lake on Mars (Source: National Geographic) • Earth's magnetic field is 400,000 years weaker than previously thought, study finds (Source: The Guardian) • China's spacecraft completes second orbit around Mars, begins search for ___ (Source: CNN) • Astronomers detect massive solar flare that lit up the skies above Earth (Source: BBC News) • Scientists discover new exoplanet that could be 'Earth-like' and host ___ (Source: The New York Times) • NASA's Parker Solar Probe uncovers secrets of the Sun's magnetic field (Source: Space. com) • International team of scientists publishes new map of the Moon's surface... providing insights into its geological history (Source: Science Daily) Note: The above news headlines are from reputable sources and are categorized under the theme of "Our Solar System".

#news

Let's start with the simple facts in Astronomy 101 – which planet is closest to the Sun and which farthest? The first title goes to Mercury, but the last one – to the gas giant Neptune. Until 2006, this honorary place belonged to Pluto, but recent planetary classification and a few additional discoveries have led astronomers to believe it is a minor, aka a dwarf, planet.

Today, the farthest planet from the Earth is the eighth one – Neptune. This planet is so far away that when you try to look at it through a telescope, you will only see a tiny blue-green disk. But how far is Neptune from the Sun ? With your own two eyes, you can't see Neptune from Earth, but with technologically advanced telescopes, you can study it, even if not in detail. This distance has been calculated many times, and now, it is our turn to find out – starting with a few other facts about our planetary home system!

Neptune's distance from the Sun is not static because planets do not have perfectly round orbits. Instead, they travel in ellipses – their closest point is called a perihelion, while the farthest is an aphelion. On average, Neptune's distance to our Sun is 4.5B km or 30AU. It takes over four sunlight hours to get from the Sun to Neptune.

Since it has an average orbital speed of 5.43 km/s, Neptune takes about 164.8 years or 60,182 terrestrial days to complete one full revolution. From our home planet, the average distance to Neptune is 4.5868B km.

The farthest planet also happens to be one of the largest, with roughly a 24,622 km radius. It's about four times wider than our planet and has six moons instead of one, like we do.