Distance From Earth to Neptune
Written by Fraser Cain
Neptune
The minimum distance from Earth to Neptune is 4.305 billion km, or 2.672 billion miles.
Now this is a minimum because the distance to Neptune from Earth is constantly changing as the two planets orbit the Sun. At their closest point, the planets are lined up on the same side of the Sun (Sun – Earth – Neptune), and they're 4.305 billion km apart. And then at their most distant point, the planets are on opposite sides of the Sun (Earth – Sun – Neptune), and they're 4.687 billion km apart.
This is such a great distance that only one spacecraft has ever made the journey from Earth to Neptune. That was NASA's Voyager spacecraft, which arrived at Neptune in 1989, passing within 4,800 km of Neptune. Voyager 2 made new observations of Neptune's rings and discovered 6 new moons around the planet.
We've written many articles about Neptune for Universe Today. Here's an article about how Neptune might have captured its moon Triton, and the gravity on Neptune.
If you'd like more info on Neptune, check out NASA's World Book on Neptune. And here's a link to NASA's Solar System Exploration Guide.
We've also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast just about Neptune. Listen here, Episode 63: Neptune.
Filed under: Astronomy
Tags: distance from earth, Earth, Neptune, planet earth, planet neptune, Solar System
