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Where Is Neptune?

Neptune is a planet in the same solar system as planet Earth. Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the sun and orbits approximately 30 times farther from the sun than Earth.

Relative Position
- Neptune orbits the sun between the planet Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto. Periodically, Neptune's orbit crosses that of Uranus and Neptune is temporarily closer to the sun than Uranus.
Distance from the Sun
- Neptune's orbit is elliptical, that is, not a perfect circle, and its distance from the sun varies according to its position along its orbit. Its average distance from the sun is 2.8 billion miles. Astronomical distances are also measured in AU, or astronomical units. One AU is the distance from the earth to the sun. Neptune is 30.06 AU from the sun. Neptune takes 165 years to perform one complete orbit of the sun.
Distance from Earth
- The Earth is 93 million miles from the sun, making Neptune 2.7 billion miles away from the Earth when the two planets are closest together in their orbits.

Astronomy