Questions tagged [triton]
Questions regarding Triton, the largest moon of Neptune.
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Would it be possible to see dust devils on Triton?
Triton has an extremely thin atmosphere, but thick enough for haze and winds.
Plumes on Triton eject gas, which carries with it micrometer sized solid particles, which leave streaks on the surface ...
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When was the last time a total solar eclipse on Neptune courtesy of Triton occured, and when will be the next?
If Triton had an equatorial orbit, then solar eclipses would occur around the Neptunian equinox - same as with Saturn and Uranus. But Triton's orbit is infamously inclined to Neptune's equator, so ...
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Why doesn't Triton orbit over Neptune's equator?
In this answer, I wrote (on another account) why most moons orbit over their planet's equator.
Any rotating planet has an equatorial bulge that shifts its moons' orbits around its equator over long ...
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Will Triton have a thicker atmosphere as the Solar System ages?
With an average temperature of around 34 kelvin, Triton is extremely cold. Currently, it has a thin mostly nitrogen atmosphere with a pressure of around 1 Pa. However, its surface has large deposits ...
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Is the process responsible for Triton's nearly perfect circular orbit going to happen in my fictional world?
First of all, I'd like to point out that I'm a worldbuilder and I like my worlds to be as physically possible as... possible.
I am in the process of building a world with a habitable moon orbiting ...
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Does the orbital decay of Triton affect Neptune's rotation?
Just a quick question regarding Neptune. Because Phobos is spiraling in towards Mars, Mars' rotation speeds up. Does the same thing happen with Neptune's rotation?
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Occultations of Triton
I've been listening to an episode of the "NASA in Silicon Valley" podcast about the SOFIA mission.
One of the techniques they use at SOFIA is stellar occultations to study different objects.
My ...
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Why is the eccentricity of Triton so low?
Triton is very special, since its orbit is retrograde respect Neptune, its obliquity is near 0° and its orbit is almost circular (according to Harris (1984) is $5 \times 10^{-4}$). I'm familiar with ...
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Does Triton trigger the active atmosphere of Neptune?
As we know the atmosphere of Neptune looks more active than Uranus', is this due to the tidal forces caused by the retrograde orbit of Triton around the planet?
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What is the current accepted hypothesis of what caused Triton's retrograde orbit around Neptune?
According to the NASA overview about Triton, this, the largest satellite of Neptune is unique in that it has a retrograde orbit around Neptune. The page also suggests that Triton is a captured Kuiper ...
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