DELTA-V // PLANETARY FIX
Neptune is 4,332 million km away
That is 28.96 astronomical units, and light from it takes 4.01 hours to reach you. Computed for this moment rather than quoted as an average — Neptune’s distance from Earth changes constantly, and an average is wrong on almost every day of the year.
COMPUTED 2026-08-30 21:50:51Z · RECOMPUTED EVERY 15 MINUTES
Right now
- DISTANCE
- 28.96 AU
- 4,332 million km
- LIGHT TIME
- 4.01 h
- one way
- BRIGHTNESS
- +7.8
- optics needed
- APPARENT SIZE
- 2.4″
- 763× smaller than the Moon
- LIT
- 100%
- of the disc
- FROM THE SUN
- 154°
- angular separation
- IN THE SKY
- morning
- rises before the Sun
- SUN DISTANCE
- 29.86 AU
- its own orbit
What Neptune is actually like
The windiest planet known, and the only one found by mathematics before anyone looked.
- TEMPERATURE
- -200 °CMean, at the 1-bar level — there is no surface
- PRESSURE
- 1 barQuoted at the 1-bar level; pressure rises without limit below it
- WINDS
- 2,100 km/hFastest sustained winds recorded
- ONE DAY
- 16.1 hoursSunrise to sunrise
- ATMOSPHERE
- 80% hydrogen, 19% helium, 1.5% methane
PUBLISHED REFERENCE VALUES FROM NASA FACT SHEETS · NOT LIVE READINGS · NO SPACECRAFT REPORTS LIVE WEATHER FROM NEPTUNE
Common questions
How far away is Neptune right now?
Neptune is 4332 million kilometres from Earth at the moment — 28.96 astronomical units, or 4.0 light-hours. That figure changes constantly as both planets move: this page recomputes it rather than quoting an average, because an average is wrong on almost every day of the year.
Can I see Neptune tonight?
Only with optics. Neptune is at magnitude +7.8 and sits 154 degrees from the Sun, making it a morning object that rises before it. A telescope will find it; the naked eye will not.
How long does light take to reach us from Neptune?
4.01 hours at the moment. You are always seeing Neptune as it was that long ago, and the delay changes as the distance does — it is a direct consequence of the 4332 million kilometres between us.
How hot is Neptune?
-200°C on average, measured at the 1-bar level — there is no surface. Quoted at the 1-bar level; pressure rises without limit below it. This is a published reference value rather than a live reading — no spacecraft currently reports live weather from Neptune, and nothing on this page pretends otherwise.
How big does Neptune look from Earth?
2.4 arcseconds across right now. For scale, the full Moon is about 1,800 arcseconds — so Neptune is roughly 763 times smaller than the Moon in apparent size, which is why it looks like a point of light without a telescope.