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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. [ 3 ] [ 13 ] Triton is thought to have once been a dwarf planet from the Kuiper belt , captured into Neptune's orbit by the latter's gravity .
Neptune brightened about 10% between 1980 and 2000 mostly due to the changing of the seasons. [177] Neptune may continue to brighten as it approaches perihelion in 2042. The apparent magnitude currently ranges from 7.67 to 7.89 with a mean of 7.78 and a standard deviation of 0.06. [18] Prior to 1980, the planet was as faint as magnitude 8.0. [18]
A celestial object's axial tilt indicates whether the object's rotation is prograde or retrograde. Axial tilt is the angle between an object's rotation axis and a line perpendicular to its orbital plane passing through the object's centre. An object with an axial tilt up to 90 degrees is rotating in the same direction as its primary.
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Naiad, the closest regular moon, is also the second smallest among the inner moons (following the discovery of Hippocamp), whereas Proteus is the largest regular moon and the second largest moon of Neptune. The first five moons orbit much faster than Neptune's rotation itself ranging from 7 hours for Naiad and Thalassa, to 13 hours for Larissa.
The term retrograde is from the Latin word retrogradus – "backward-step", the affix retro-meaning "backwards" and gradus "step". Retrograde is most commonly an adjective used to describe the path of a planet as it travels through the night sky, with respect to the zodiac, stars, and other bodies of the celestial canopy. In this context, the ...
In this hypothesis, as the binary system approaches Neptune, it becomes unbound by tidal forces; one component of the binary is ejected from the system, and Triton is captured into a highly eccentric orbit around Neptune. For this to occur, the escaping companion must be massive enough to provide the impulse needed for a single pass capture ...
Neso / ˈ n iː s oʊ /, also known as Neptune XIII, is the second-outermost known natural satellite of Neptune, after S/2021 N 1. It is a retrograde irregular moon discovered by Matthew J. Holman , Brett J. Gladman , et al. on 14 August 2002, though it went unnoticed until 2003.