Unrevealed Facts About Triton - Neptune's Mysterious Moon

Triton is surprisingly similar to Pluto. While this pair may look quite different, they are almost the same size and composition.

In 2022, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced plans to send a spacecraft to the planet Neptune - expected around 2024 and when it arrives, it will become a human vehicle. second creator ever to visit the second "blue planet" of the Solar System.

Neptune is in fact not like Earth, the blue color on our planet comes from the oceans, and on this planet, the blue color is born because it is a giant icy planet with blue color. jade and the constant raging storms.

Triton is probably one of the most overlooked places in the entire Solar System.

Ever since Voyager 2's flight in 1989 provided an enchanting glimpse into the frozen world of this planet, scientists have always wanted more opportunities to uncover the mysteries surrounding the planet. this planet. But sadly, despite all the plans and proposals, to date no NASA space missions to Neptune have been carried out. However, around this planet, there is something more interesting than Neptune itself - its moon - Triton.

Triton is perhaps one of the most overlooked places in the entire Solar System, decades before it was named. The discovery of this moon was first reported in 1847, by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, but the moon remained unnamed, until 1880, in the book Astronomie. Populaire.

As the Encyclopedia of the Solar System notes, Voyager 2's brief visit revealed only about 40% of Triton's surface. Meanwhile the rest of this moon remains a mystery to us - one of the most mysterious places in the entire Solar System - and naturally, the more mysterious something is, the more mysterious it is. attracted a lot of attention.

Pluto's brother?

The moon Triton is surprisingly similar to Pluto.

According to NASA, Triton is the only satellite in the Solar System that rotates in a direction opposite to that of its parent planet. Its surface is also quite complex with relatively flat plains and interlocking wormhole-like surfaces.

And that seems to be showing that it did not form naturally around Neptune, and as NASA explains, the popular opinion is that Triton is an object "captured" from the Kuiper Belt - the collection of The solar system's icy planets range from the orbit of Neptune to 44 AU from the Sun.

And more than that, there's plenty of astronomical evidence that Triton is surprisingly similar to Pluto. Although the pair may look quite different, they are roughly the same size and composition. This suggests that they may have been born from the same place - in the cold darkness beyond Neptune's orbit.

There are many theories that in the distant past, Triton's initial orbit passed through Neptune (like Pluto's orbit) until it moved too close and was held back by gravity. guide of Neptune. Neptune probably once had other moons of its own, but perhaps a few were destroyed when Triton crashed into those of Neptune's moons.

Volcanic lava is all water

In a world as far away from the Sun as Triton, water would be so frozen and hard that it behaves like tectonic plates on Earth.

According to NASA, when Earth's tectonic plates move, volcanoes will erupt lava - molten rock, and for Triton this satellite will also do the same thing, but instead of a planet-like volcano. Ours has cryovolcanoes (ice volcanoes) and it will spew water instead of lava.

As an article from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference explains, Triton's surface appears to have volcanic terrain, with smooth lava flows, solidified remnants of lava lakes, collapsed lava tubes. but we can still observe some signs of volcanic eruptions from the past.

However, Triton's lava is much different from the liquid water on our planet, it is much denser and more viscous. Apparently, it was most likely a mixture of water and ammonia, erupting as a form of snow and ice.

Voyager 2 even took pictures of an erupting geyser as it sped past the satellite. This makes Triton part of the few sites in the entire Solar System known to have active volcanoes - along with Earth, Venus, Jupiter's moon Io, and Saturn's moon Titan Tho.

Triton also has seasonal weather

. Triton also has an atmosphere that covers its frozen surface.

Titan, Saturn's giant moon, is known for its thick and hazy atmosphere, but it's not the only moon in the Solar System to have an atmospheric curtain. Triton also has an atmosphere that covers its frozen surface, but it is extremely thin compared to Titan, Earth or even Mars.

Surprisingly, though, as a study in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics explains, while Triton's atmosphere may contain a troposphere - where weathering can occur, not quite the same as on Earth.

The weather on the moon Triton is surprisingly complicated. As an article in Space explains, there are signs that Triton has seasons. In the summer, Triton's atmosphere thickens as its surface warms and the gas begins to evaporate, while in the winter snow can even fall from the icy little moon's sky. Unlike on Earth, the snow on Triton is most likely made from a mixture of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. And being very far from the Sun, transported by Neptune's slow orbit, the seasons at this moon will be played out for a long time. Each summer and winter there could last 40 Earth years.

Aurora lights up the night sky of Triton

 Triton's aurora is similar to that on our planet. (Illustration).

The polar regions on Earth are known for their spectacular auroras that light up the night sky. As Discover Magazine explains, auroras are formed by charged particles from the solar wind. As these energetic particles strike the atmosphere, they excite molecules that cause the beautiful light familiar to anyone living in the polar regions.

But Earth isn't the only place in the Solar System where auroras illuminate the sky. Astronomers have detected auroras on every planet except Mercury - due to the absence of an atmosphere. However, the discovery of the aurora on Triton surprised everyone.

The Washington Post published an article from 1989, shortly after Voyager 2 visited Neptune, explaining how both Neptune and Triton display auroras in their skies. Scientists at the time were so surprised by what they saw that they were hesitant at first to call it the aurora.

Auroras are usually caused by a planet's magnetic field pulling in solar wind particles, but in Triton's case it seems to be caused by the moon orbiting Neptune's magnetic field, and the charged particles on the moon. was swept up by Neptune's magnetism. With a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, Neptune's auroras will most likely be red, but Triton's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, like Earth's. This means that Triton's aurora will be similar to those on our planet.

Maybe there's an ocean

Triton is a prime candidate to search for one of the oceans of secrets.

Giant planets outside the Solar System often carry numerous icy moons, and many suspect that some of them may be hiding oceans of water below the surface under their thick crust of ice. they. As NASA notes, Jupiter's moon Europa can even hold twice as much water as the Earth's surface.

Largely made up of ice, Triton is a prime candidate to search for one of these secret oceans. As Scientific American mentions, a particularly promising target for cryovolcanoes and tectonic activity, Triton's heart probably contains a significant source of heat, helping to keep its interior from freezing.

Triton has an axial tilt of about 30 degrees, which means that as it orbits Neptune, the giant planet's gravity will act on the moon, causing friction to warm it. Another factor, mentioned by Space - the fact that Triton's core is made of stone. Like on Earth, that rock is filled with heavy elements, including radioactive isotopes. When they decay, they release a lot of energy in the form of heat, causing an effect known as radioactive heating. These could even warm Triton's oceans through hydrothermal vents, like those at the bottom of Earth's oceans.