Triton

There are 14 known moons of Neptune, but the most prominent of the Neptunian moons is Triton, which is Neptune's largest moon.

Properties:

Mass: 2.139 * 1022 kg

Mean Radius: 1,353.4 km

Semi-major Axis: 354,759 km

Orbital Period: 5.88 days(retrograde)

Rotational Period: 5.88 days(retrograde)(synchronous)

Surface Gravity: 0.779 m/(s2)

Etymology: Triton(Greek God of the Sea, son of Poseidon)

Triton is Neptune's largest moon and is in a retrograde orbit(orbits opposite to Neptune's rotation). Triton's surface is relatively flat, riddled with short outcrops, ridges, plateaus, and a few craters here and there. Due to its lack of craters, Triton's surface is believed to be relatively young. The valleys and ridges found on Triton are due to the moon's tectonic activity and cryovolcanism. A cryovolcano is a volcano that erupts ices, like methane, ammonia, water, instead of molten rock.

Triton also houses a special type of surface feature consisting of fissures and depressions known as cantaloupe terrain. This name is given because the terrain itself resembles the skin of a cantaloupe melon.


Citations/Attributions

Triton (moon). Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_(moon). License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike