Triton

==Overview==
Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune. It was discovered on October 10, 1846, by English astronomer William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar system with a retrograde orbit, an orbit in the opposite direction to its planet's rotation. At 2,700 kilometers (1,700 mi) in diameter, it is the seventh largest moon in the Solar system. Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto's, Triton is thought to have been a dwarf planet captured from the Kuiper belt. Triton has a surface of mostly frozen nitrogen, a mostly water-ice crust, an icy mantle and a substantial core of rock and metal. The core makes up two-thirds of its total mass. Triton has a mean density of 2.061 g/cm³ and is composed of approximately 15-35% water ice.Some of the sections of this article such as Overview and Surface Environment has been adapted from the Space Engine ingame wiki with the Surface Environment being altered slightly
==Surface Environment==
Triton is one of the few moons in the Solar system known to be geologically active. As a consequence, its surface is relatively young with sparse impact craters, and a complex geological history revealed in intricate cryovolcanic and tectonic terrains. Part of its surface has geysers erupting sublimated nitrogen gas, contributing to a tenuous nitrogen atmosphere less than 1/70,000 the pressure of Earth's atmosphere at sea level. The surface is mainly out of nitrogen ice due to how frigid it is on Triton, causing it to reflect 70% of light that reaches the surface of Triton.
==Motion==
The orbital motion of Triton is in retrograde motion, meaning the orbital motion of Triton is opposite to the rotational direction of Neptune. Triton completes the orbit around Neptune every 5.876 Earth days and the average distance between Triton and Neptune is 354,800 km. The rotational period is similar to the orbital period, meaning Triton is tidally locked with Neptune with the one hemisphere facing directly at Neptune.
==Capture==
It is widely accepted that Triton is not formed though co-accretion just like the former original Neptunian satellites which Neptune used to posses, but instead a former dwarf planet that is binary with a 1000 km object and both objects used to dwell inside the primordial Kuiper belt, similar to Pluto-Charon binary system.https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006Natur.441..192A There are a large number of evidence pointing to the capture theory such as the orbital motion of Triton is opposite to the orbital motion of the small, inner Neptunian moons, the unusual high orbital inclination, the eccentric orbit the first-generation moon, Nereid, the similar composition to Pluto and the scarcity of the major moons of Neptune in contrast to the giant planets.https://web.archive.org/web/20111014234918/http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?sat_elem
===Origin ===
As the binary system of Triton gets too close to the powerful gravitational influence of Neptune, the 1000 km hypothetical object gets flung out alone while Triton is gravitationally captured by Neptune at an eccentric, inclined orbit, during the Triton's capture, many former major moons of Neptune got gravitationally catapulted by Triton's powerful gravitational influence and colliding into Neptune or Triton itself. Over time, the debris disk was produced after Triton destroyed the former satellites of Neptune, with only Nereid being the survivor, the second-generation moons began to form as large objects begin accrete material inside the debris disk to form the present day inner, prograde, Neptunian moons.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/001910359290155Z?via%3Dihub The debris disk is also the main factor to reduce the orbital eccentricity of Triton while tidal circularization having a smaller impact.https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005DPS....37.2511C/abstracthttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/GL017i010p01749
== Gallery ==
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Category:Real objects
Category:Moons
Category:Objects
Category:Solar System
Category:Aquaria