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Neptune: The Blue Planet
It is so cold on Neptune that you would need skin thicker than a polar bear's to stay warm.

Neptune and Uranus are very much alike. They are both large gas planets that look like big blue-green balls in the sky. Neptune has winds in its atmosphere which blow at over 2000 kilometers per hour! This planet has large, dark circles on its surface which astronomers believe to be storms. Neptune has two thick and two thin rings which surround it. Neptune also has thirteen known moons. Four of these moons orbit the planet within the rings. One of Neptune's moons, Triton, orbits the planet in a direction opposite to Neptune's other moons. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun.

Neptune

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A Question

Multiple choice

Astronomers believe that the large, dark circles on Neptune's surface are:

  1. forest fires
  2. storms
  3. black holes
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The Facts
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The Answer
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The StarChild site is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA/ GSFC.

StarChild Authors: The StarChild Team
StarChild Graphics & Music: Acknowledgments
StarChild Project Leader: Dr. Laura A. Whitlock
Curator: J.D. Myers
Responsible NASA Official: Amber Straughn