Key facts
- Category
- Moons
- Object class
- Irregular outer moon
- Scale fact
- 357 kmmean diameter
- Host
- Neptune
Nereid
357 kmmean diameter
Visual creditscaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Details
Nereid is a distant irregular moon of Neptune with one of the most eccentric moon orbits in the Solar System. Its 360-day path suggests either capture from elsewhere or a major disturbance during the capture of Triton.
Nereid takes about 360 Earth days to orbit Neptune and follows one of the most eccentric paths known for a moon. That orbit supports two broad explanations: Nereid may itself be a captured small body, or Triton’s capture may have displaced it from an earlier orbit. Present observations do not distinguish cleanly between those histories.
Links
- Universe journey
- Solar System
- Wikipedia
- Nereid on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Nereid on the scale
Sources
References for Nereid
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Nereid — Wikipedia
- Visual: scaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.