how big is triton compared to earth

There could be subsurface ocean of slushy or liquid water. However, the observed cratering asymmetry exceeds what can be explained on the basis of the impactor populations, and implies a younger surface age for the crater-free regions (≤ 6 million years old) than for the cratered regions (≤ 50 million years old). Only 40% of Triton's surface has been observed and studied, but it is possible that it is entirely covered in such a thin sheet of nitrogen ice. [33][59] Triton is thus, along with Earth, Io, Europa and Enceladus, one of the few bodies in the Solar System on which active eruptions of some sort have been observed. [15] Triton is one of the few moons in the Solar System known to be geologically active (the others being Jupiter's Io and Europa, and Saturn's Enceladus and Titan). As a result, Triton has a very thin nitrogen atmosphere. [21] Until the discovery of the second moon Nereid in 1949, Triton was commonly referred to as "the satellite of Neptune". Saturn– JPL Cassini Main Page [7] Voyager 2 was able to study only about 40% of its surface, and future missions have been proposed to revisit the Neptune system with a focus on Triton. [7] The impact craters observed are concentrated almost entirely in Triton's leading hemisphere. Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto, Triton is thought to have been a dwarf planet captured from the Kuiper belt. [10][47] A haze permeates most of Triton's troposphere, thought to be composed largely of hydrocarbons and nitriles created by the action of sunlight on methane. [65] Many also appear to be tectonic in nature and may result from extension or strike-slip faulting. These observations indicated the presence of a denser atmosphere than was deduced from Voyager 2 data. [48] Other observations have shown an increase in temperature by 5% from 1989 to 1998. [64], Triton's south polar region is covered by a highly reflective cap of frozen nitrogen and methane sprinkled by impact craters and openings of geysers. Although it has few craters, it is thought that this is the oldest terrain on Triton. [44], The high plains found on Triton's eastern hemisphere, such as Cipango Planum, cover over and blot out older features, and are therefore almost certainly the result of icy lava washing over the previous landscape. Like the famous overestimates of the atmospheric density of Mars, this proved incorrect. Streaks on Triton's surface left by geyser plumes suggest that the troposphere is driven by seasonal winds capable of moving material of over a micrometre in size. [k] Also, with a diameter 5.5% that of Neptune, it is the largest moon of a gas giant relative to its planet in terms of diameter, although Titan is bigger relative to Saturn in terms of mass. [46] Unlike other atmospheres, Triton's lacks a stratosphere, and instead has a thermosphere from altitudes of 8 to 950 km, and an exosphere above that. There are no other missions planned to Neptune or Triton for the foreseeable future. Triton is Neptune’s largest moon and is the only large moon in the solar system to orbit in the opposite direction to its planet’s rotation, this is known as a retrograde orbit. [23] At the present time, Triton's rotational axis is about 40° from Neptune's orbital plane, and hence at some point during Neptune's year each pole points fairly close to the Sun, almost like the poles of Uranus. As a consequence, its surface is relatively young, with few obvious impact craters. Lassell rejected his previous claim of discovery when he found that the orientation of the supposed rings changed when he rotated his telescope tube; see p. 9 of Smith & Baum, 1984. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit, an orbit in the direction opposite to its planet's rotation. This source of internal heat disappeared following tidal locking and circularization of the orbit. Like Earth, Titan’s atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen, but unlike Earth, one of the most abundant constituents is methane (CH4). [66], Triton's western hemisphere consists of a strange series of fissures and depressions known as "cantaloupe terrain" because of its resemblance to the skin of a cantaloupe melon. Triton is relatively flat; its observed topography never varies beyond a kilometre. See related link for a pictorial size difference. [7], In 1997, observations from Earth were made of Triton's limb as it passed in front of stars. [27], Two types of mechanisms have been proposed for Triton's capture. [54] Fifty-five percent of Triton's surface is covered with frozen nitrogen, with water ice comprising 15–35% and frozen CO2 forming the remaining 10–20%. Triton is a frozen wonderland, exhibiting a strange array of terrain types. [7], One of the largest cryovolcanic features found on Triton is Leviathan Patera,[57] a caldera-like feature roughly 100 km in diameter seen near the equator. [70] The largest crater observed on Triton thought to have been created by an impact is a 27-kilometre-diameter (17 mi) feature called Mazomba. Water, the most abundant volatile in the Solar System, comprises Triton's mantle, enveloping a core of rock and metal. Triton's surface atmospheric pressure is only about 1.4–1.9 Pa (0.014–0.019 mbar). This indicates that solar heating, although very weak at Triton's great distance from the Sun, plays a crucial role. Done. [49] These observations indicated Triton was approaching an unusually warm southern-hemisphere summer season that happens only once every few hundred years. Telescopic Image of the Full Moon: Gregory H. Revera Image of Triton: NASA/JPL/USGS With respect to Triton's orbit about Neptune. “Part of the exhilaration of our scientific exploration comes from understanding how Titan is similar to Earth as well as how it differs,” said CIRS principal investigator F. Michael Flasar of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. It is thought that the surface of Triton probably consists of a translucent layer of frozen nitrogen overlying a darker substrate, which creates a kind of "solid greenhouse effect". It was found to have a retrograde orbit, at a very high angle of inclination to the plane of Neptune's orbit. The discovery was made on October 10, 1846, by English astronomer William Lassell. [48], New concepts for missions to the Neptune system to be conducted in the 2010s were proposed by NASA scientists on numerous occasions over the last decades. [26], The proposed capture of Triton may explain several features of the Neptunian system, including the extremely eccentric orbit of Neptune's moon Nereid and the scarcity of moons as compared to the other giant planets. The correspondence between the lab and Titan spectra is obvious and the strength of the laboratory lines is used to determine the abundance of methane in Titan’s upper atmosphere, he said. A brewer by trade, Lassell spotted Triton with his self-built ~61 cm (24 in) aperture metal mirror reflecting telescope (also known as the "two-foot" reflector). Calculated on the basis of other parameters. The organic chemistry that occurs in Titan’s atmosphere is an analog of the processes that may have been present in the early terrestrial atmosphere. New concepts for missions to the Neptune system, "Bound for Pluto, Carrying Memories of Triton", "Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters", "The Orbits of the Neptunian Satellites and the Orientation of the Pole of Neptune", "Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters", "Neptune's capture of its moon Triton in a binary–planet gravitational encounter", "A shear heating origin for ridges on Triton", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, "Discovery of Supposed Ring and Satellite of Neptune", "Observations of Neptune and his satellite", "The Royal Observatory Greenwich - where east meets west: Telescope: The Lassell 2-foot Reflector (1847)", "Planet and Satellite Names and their Discoverers", Seasons Discovered on Neptune's Moon Triton — Space.com, "Triton, Pluto, Centaurs, and Trans-Neptunian Bodies", "Origin of Martian Moons from Binary Asteroid Dissociation", EXTREME KUIPER BELT OBJECT 2001QG298 AND THE FRACTION OF CONTACT BINARIES, "Triton's evolution with a primordial Neptunian satellite system", "Heat flow and depth to a possible internal ocean on Triton", "Spectroscopy of Pluto and Triton at 3–4 Microns: Possible Evidence for Wide Distribution of Nonvolatile Solids", "Subsurface oceans and deep interiors of medium-sized outer planet satellites and large trans-neptunian objects", Overlooked Ocean Worlds Fill the Outer Solar System, "Powering Triton's recent geological activity by obliquity tides: Implications for Pluto geology", "Does Neptune's moon Triton have a subsurface ocean? Sources:Image – photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00317, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), The Ultimate List of TV Shows set in Space or on Other Planets, The Planets and Moons of Star Wars to Scale. [7][36], Because Triton's surface indicates a long history of melting, models of its interior posit that Triton is differentiated, like Earth, into a solid core, a mantle and a crust. During its 1989 flyby of Triton, Voyager 2 found surface temperatures of 38 K (−235 °C) and also discovered active geysers; Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to visit Triton. Triton rotates once on its axis as it orbits the planet. Its equator is almost exactly aligned with its orbital plane. [61], All the geysers observed were located between 50° and 57°S, the part of Triton's surface close to the subsolar point.

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