Neptune and Pluto (Important Facts) {Part-21}

NEPTUNE IS the furthest planet from the Sun at an average distance of about 4,500 million kilometres. Neptune is the smallest of the giant planets and is thought to consist of a small rocky core surrounded by a mixture of liquids and gases. Seven transient cloud features have been observed in its atmosphere.

Neptune

The Largest of these were Green Dark Spot, which was as wide as the Earth, the Small Dark Spot, and the Scooter. The Great and Small Dark Spots were huge storms that were swept around the planet by winds of about 2,000 kilometres per hour. The Scooter was large area of Cirrus cloud. Neptune has six tenuous rings and 13 known moons. Triton is the largest Neptunian moon and the coldest object in the Solar System, with a temperature of -240^oC. Unlike most moons in the Solar System, Triton orbits its mother planet in the opposite direction to the planet's rotation.

Structure of Neptune

Rings of Neptune

Moons of Neptune

The region extending out from Neptune's orbit is populated by Kuiper Belt objects and Dwarf planets. They make a dough-nut shaped belt called Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt objects are a mix of rock and ice, irregular in shape, and less than 1,000 kilometres across.

Kuiper Belt

The larger dwarf planets, which include Pluto, are almost round bodies. Pluto was the first object discovered beyond Neptune and was considered a planet until the dwarf planet category was introduced in 2006. It is made of rock and ice and is 2,274 kilometres across. It has three known moons. The largest, Charon, is about half Pluto's size and the two probably had a common origin.

Pluto

Moons of Pluto

Pluto and Charon structure

Pluto Surface's