With its big smile and beautiful blue bands, Neptune looks full of energy in this Coloring Page. That actually suits this distant world very well because its atmosphere is incredibly active! Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the most distant of the eight planets in our Solar System. It orbits about 4.5 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles) from our star, nearly 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth.

Along with Uranus, Neptune belongs to a group known as the ice giants. Its atmosphere is made mainly of hydrogen and helium, with a smaller amount of methane that contributes to its bluish appearance. But Neptune is especially famous for its extreme weather. Winds have been measured at speeds of more than 2,000 km/h (1,200 mph), making them the fastest observed on any planet in the Solar System! Enormous storms can also develop in its turbulent atmosphere.

A day on Neptune lasts only about 16 hours, but a year is a completely different story. The planet is so far from the Sun that it takes approximately 165 Earth years to complete a single orbit. Since its discovery in 1846, Neptune has therefore completed only a little more than one full journey around the Sun.

For this Printable Coloring Page, try alternating different shades of blue and turquoise across Neptune’s wavy bands. Adding a few darker areas can also suggest the huge storms swirling through its atmosphere.

Neptune is the planetary neighbor of Uranus, the planet that rotates on its side, which is the next stop on our journey. Pick out your favorite blues and bring this distant, windy world at the edge of the Solar System to life!