How many neptune moons are there

Scientists using powerful telescopes and spacecraft have since discovered a total of 14 moons orbiting this distant, giant world. Neptune Moons. Use Chemistry. JPL's lucky peanuts are an unofficial tradition at big mission events. Full Moon Guide: October - November The rover will be delivered to the Moon's surface in late VIPER is the first resource-mapping mission on the surface of another celestial body.

While all of the moons have names relating to the god Neptune or to the sea, the irregular moons are all named for daughters of Nereus and Doris, the attendants of Neptune. While the inner moons formed in situ , it's believed all of the irregular moons were captured by Neptune's gravity. Triton is Neptune's largest moon, with a diameter of km mi and mass of 2. Its immense size puts it an order of magnitude larger than the next-largest irregular moon in the solar system and larger than the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris.

Triton is the only large moon in the solar system that has a retrograde orbit, which means it orbits in the opposite direction of Neptune's rotation. Scientists believe this may mean Triton is a captured object, rather than a moon that formed with Neptune. It also means Triton is subject to tidal deceleration and because it is so massive that it exerts an effect on the rotation of Neptune. Triton is noteworthy for a few other reasons.

Triton is a round moon with a nearly circular orbit. It has active geysers and may have a subterranean ocean. Nereid is Neptune's third-largest moon. It has a highly eccentric orbit that might mean it was once a regular satellite that was disturbed when Triton was captured. Water ice has been detected on its surface.

Sao and Laomedeia have prograde orbits, while Halimede, Psamathe, and Neso have retrograde orbits. The similarity of the orbits of Psamathe and Neso might mean they are remnants of a single moon that broke apart. The two moons take 25 years to orbit Neptune, giving them the largest orbits of any natural satellites. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

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Apply market research to generate audience insights. Learn more about exploring the Earth-Moon system. Now, capturing Triton would have taken its toll on both Triton and the Neptune system. Imagine if Neptune originally had a system of regular moons that had formed from an accretion disk. Then Triton comes barreling in, and the gravitational interactions between Triton and these moons would likely have disrupted their orbits: perhaps giving them large eccentricities or inclinations, causing them to crash into Neptune or escape the Neptune system altogether.

Nereid, a small moon of Neptune may be evidence of this. This is a transcript from the video series A Field Guide to the Planets. Watch it now, Wondrium. And how did going from a free-flying Kuiper belt object to a captured moon affect Triton? Triton now keeps one face towards Neptune at all times, just like our Moon does with Earth, and travels in a very circular orbit. The tidal forces acting on Triton this close to Neptune have two important effects on the moon. Triton is slowly spiraling inward towards Neptune.

Tidal forces are not only pulling Triton inward. Our best views of Triton came from the Voyager 2 flyby. Over half of the surface is covered with frozen nitrogen. The surface has a pinkish hue thanks to the presence of organic compounds on the surface. They can be caused when methane is broken apart by sunlight and its components are then reassembled into larger organic molecules.

The surface is covered with signs of geologic change, but there are not many craters on Triton. The youngest regions are estimated to be about six million years old.

Yet Triton does display ridges, troughs, cliffs, and volcanic plains we see on other worlds. But there is also some terrain that is not seen anywhere else in the solar system. In the part of the western hemisphere that has been imaged, Triton looks like a cantaloupe!

An irregular pattern of pits or depressions, about 30 kilometers across, and ridges several hundred meters high cover the surface here.