Planets and Moons  ID: 11598

Experience Triton

Story by Kayvon Sharghi Released on August 26, 2014
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See enhanced views of Neptune's largest moon.
In late August 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft sailed past Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, providing the first images of this distant world. Now, a stunning new view of the flyby has been created using historic data collected by the spacecraft. Triton is part of a family of 14 moons that orbit Neptune. It has a diameter of 1,700 miles, making it roughly the size of Earth’s moon. Deposits of nitrogen, methane and carbon dioxide ice can be found on Triton's surface, where Voyager 2 recorded temperatures of -391°F. Although it's classified as a moon of Neptune, scientists believe Triton is actually an object from the outer solar system that was captured by the planet’s gravity long ago. Watch the video to see a visualization of Voyager 2's encounter with Triton.
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This visualization was created from data collected by Voyager 2 during its flyby of Triton.
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Voyager 2 was approaching Triton from a distance of 3.3 million miles when it captured this image on August 20, 1989.
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Surface features are visible in this image taken on August 24, 1989, when Voyager 2 was 330,000 miles away.
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Voyager 2 looks back at Neptune (top) and Triton (bottom) in this image taken on August 28, 1989.

Story Credits

Lead Writer:
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Video courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lunar & Planetary Institute/Paul Schenk and John Blackwell
Cover image courtesy of NASA/JPL/USGS
Voyager 2 images courtesy of NASA

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11598

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons