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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.
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.
The bright blue diffraction star is Triton, Neptune's largest moon. Neptune has 16 known moons. [155] Triton is the largest Neptunian moon, accounting for more than 99.5% of the mass in orbit around Neptune, [i] and is the only one massive enough to be spheroidal. Triton was discovered by William Lassell just 17 days after the discovery of ...
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]
Galatea / ɡ æ l ə ˈ t iː ə /, also known as Neptune VI, is the fourth-closest inner moon of Neptune, and fifth-largest moon of Neptune. It is named after Galatea , one of the fifty Nereids of Greek legend , with whom Cyclops Polyphemus was vainly in love.
Several of Neptune's moons are also visible, including Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Larissa and Proteus. In one image, a bright blue feature that looks like a star is actually the moon ...
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 ...
Generally, Neptune is depicted as a rich, deep blue. Uranus is usually seen as a pale green or cyan. In fact, however, they are much more similar than we thought. Both planets are a particular ...