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Fun facts and trivia about the solar system, including the sun, the planets,
and other celestial bodies.
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Neptune - The Outermost Planet
- Now that Pluto is considered to be a Dwarf Planet instead of a planet, Neptune is classified
as the most distant planet from the sun.
- Oddly, even while Pluto was considered to be a planet, there were times that Pluto (which has an extremely eccentric orbit) actually crossed the line
of Neptune's orbit, making Neptune the outermost planet.
- Though Neptune, like the other gas giants, is quite large compared to earth, Neptune's rocky core is probably about the same size as Earth.
- Like the other gas giants, Neptune also has rings.
- When scientists concluded that something was "messing up" the orbit of Uranus, they predicted that another (unknown) planet's gravity
was disturbing the orbit. Calculations were done, and predictions were made. The result was that Neptune was discovered mathematically.
"The Solar System" is written by Douglas Twitchell, and hosted at The Problem Site.
Contents copyright 2009 by Douglas Twitchell. Contents of this page may not be reproduced without permission of the author. For information on using
this site in a classroom situation, please visit the Teachers page.
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