Samuel Chiltern answered
Neptune is approximately 255 light minutes away from the Sun. This means that it takes the light from the Sun almost four and a quarter hours to reach the planet.
If you contrast this with Earth, which sunlight only takes 8.5 minutes to reach, then this gives you a pretty good idea of how much farther away Neptune is from the Sun.
In other units of measurement, you could say that Neptune is 4.5 billion kilometres away, or 2.8 billion miles, if you prefer.
The distances of all planets from the Sun (as quoted by scientists) is an average. This is because the orbit of each planet doesn't follow a precise circle - but tends to form an ellipsis curve instead.
Whenever a planet reaches its closest point to the Sun, it is said to be at perihelion, which for Neptune measures a distance of 4.45 billion kilometres from the Sun.
When a planet reaches it's farthest point, it's known as aphelion, and for Neptune, this is 4.55 billion kilometres away from the Sun.
If you contrast this with Earth, which sunlight only takes 8.5 minutes to reach, then this gives you a pretty good idea of how much farther away Neptune is from the Sun.
In other units of measurement, you could say that Neptune is 4.5 billion kilometres away, or 2.8 billion miles, if you prefer.
The distances of all planets from the Sun (as quoted by scientists) is an average. This is because the orbit of each planet doesn't follow a precise circle - but tends to form an ellipsis curve instead.
Whenever a planet reaches its closest point to the Sun, it is said to be at perihelion, which for Neptune measures a distance of 4.45 billion kilometres from the Sun.
When a planet reaches it's farthest point, it's known as aphelion, and for Neptune, this is 4.55 billion kilometres away from the Sun.
