Neptune is normally the eighth planet from the Sun, although the dwarf planet Pluto, because of its elongated orbit, occasionally comes closer for periods of 20 years around its perihelion. Neptune is the most distant of the gas giants. It is also marginally the smallest of the gas giants in the solar system, after Uranus, although its volume is still 60 times greater than that of the Earth and it is slightly more massive than Uranus. Neptune and Uranus are more appropriately referred to as ice gi because their composition is substantially different from that of Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune was discovered in 1846 by Johann Galle and Louis d’Arrest following predictions by Urbain Leverrier. In fact, Galileo Galilei, as his notes reveal, had seen Neptune much earlier, in 1612 and again in 1613, but thought it was a star. The name "Neptune," after the Roman god of the sea, was first suggested by Leverrier and adopted internationally soon after.   Image: "Full-Disk Neptune."

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Neptune is normally the eighth planet from the Sun, although the dwarf planet Pluto, because of its elongated orbit, occasionally comes closer for periods of 20 years around its perihelion. Neptune is the most distant of the gas giants. It is also marginally the smallest of the gas giants in the solar system, after Uranus, although its volume is still 60 times greater than that of the Earth and it is slightly more massive than Uranus. Neptune and Uranus are more appropriately referred to as ice gi because their composition is substantially different from that of Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune was discovered in 1846 by Johann Galle and Louis d’Arrest following predictions by Urbain Leverrier. In fact, Galileo Galilei, as his notes reveal, had seen Neptune much earlier, in 1612 and again in 1613, but thought it was a star. The name "Neptune," after the Roman god of the sea, was first suggested by Leverrier and adopted internationally soon after.   Image: "Full-Disk Neptune."

 Click link below for more details.