Key facts
- Scale fact
- 2,700 kmdiameter
- Composition
- Frozen nitrogen, water ice, rock and metal
- Temperature
- ~38 K surface
Triton
2,700 kmdiameter
Visual creditVoyager 2 1989 / Michael T. Bland, U.S. Geological Survey / CC BY 4.0Source: Wikimedia Commons
Details
Triton is Neptune's largest moon and the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit. Scientists think it began as a Kuiper Belt object captured by Neptune, and Voyager 2 found geysers erupting from its intensely cold nitrogen-frost surface.
Triton’s retrograde orbit is the central evidence that Neptune captured it rather than forming it in place. Voyager 2 then found a surface near 38 kelvin covered in volatile ices and photographed dark plumes rising several kilometers before winds carried their material downrange. No spacecraft has returned since to see whether they are still active.
Links
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- Wikipedia
- Triton on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Triton on the scale
Sources
References for Triton
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.
- Triton — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (Voyager 2 1989 / Michael T. Bland, U.S. Geological Survey, CC BY 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.