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Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune. It is the only moon of Neptune massive enough to be rounded under its own gravity and hosts a thin, hazy atmosphere. Triton orbits Neptune in a retrograde orbit—revolving in the opposite direction to the parent planet's rotation—the only large moon in the Solar System to do so.
A size comparison of Neptune and Earth. Neptune's mass of 1.0243 × 10 26 kg [8] is intermediate between Earth and the larger gas giants: it is 17 times that of Earth but just 1/19th that of Jupiter. [g] Its gravity at 1 bar is 11.15 m/s 2, 1.14 times the surface gravity of Earth, [71] and surpassed only by Jupiter. [72]
The planet Neptune has 16 known moons, which are named for minor water deities and a water creature in Greek mythology. [note 1] By far the largest of them is Triton, discovered by William Lassell on 10 October 1846, 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself. Over a century passed before the discovery of the second natural satellite, Nereid ...
The study of extraterrestrial atmospheres is an active field of research, [1] both as an aspect of astronomy and to gain insight into Earth's atmosphere. [2] In addition to Earth, many of the other astronomical objects in the Solar System have atmospheres. These include all the giant planets, as well as Mars, Venus and Titan.
Trident is a proposed NASA mission that is to further study Neptune's moon Triton. The proposed launch date of Trident is set for October 2025, arriving at the Neptune system by 2038. Triton is a probable ocean world of very high priority because of the glimpses of activity shown from the Voyager 2 flyby.
Proteus is the second-largest moon of Neptune and is the largest of its regular prograde moons. It is about 420 km (260 mi) in diameter, larger than Nereid, Neptune's third-largest moon. It was not discovered by Earth-based telescopes because Proteus orbits so close to Neptune that it is lost in the glare of reflected sunlight. [15]
Naiad / ˈ n eɪ ə d /, (also known as Neptune III and previously designated as S/1989 N 6) named after the naiads of Greek legend, [10] is the innermost satellite of Neptune and the nearest to the center of any gas giant with moons with a distance of 48,224 km from the planet's center. Its orbital period is less than a Neptunian day ...
Galatea inside of a faint ring arc near Neptune. Galatea was discovered in late July 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2 probe. It was given the temporary designation S/1989 N 4. [10] The discovery was announced (IAUC 4824) on 2 August 1989, and mentions "10 frames taken over 5 days", implying a discovery date of sometime before July 28.