Neptune

Neptune is the outer-most known planet in the solar system. Characteristics:

• 17 Earth masses.
• 3.85 Earth radii.
• 367 Earth days - solar day.
• 165 years - orbital period.
• 30 AU - orbital radius.
• 0.00946 - orbital eccentricity.

Among the solar system planets, it is easily most similar to Uranus, having a slightly larger mass and a slightly smaller radius. It has 14 moons, of which one, Triton, is substantial. Triton has a retrograde orbit, suggesting it is a captured minor planet. Pluto and Neptune have a 3:2 orbital resonance. The only mission to fly near Neptune was Voyager 2 in 1989. Among its observations was a spot on the surface analogous to Jupiter's, Neptune's called the Great Dark Spot (GDS or GDS-89), a storm in Neptune's atmosphere. Subsequent HST observation has shown the spot disappeared and later has shown another such spot.

The term Neptune is also used for Neptune-like extra-solar planets, specifically significantly larger than Earth and smaller than Jupiter or Saturn, and typically a gas planet, perhaps with other Neptune-like characteristics.