Tidal heating triton11/29/2023 ![]() ![]() It has been theorized that the tidal forces of Neptune on the moon could have kept its surface liquid for up to a billion years. If Triton is a captured dwarf planet, the tidal forces that currently drive its volcanic activity could have melted and reformed the surface, giving it the relatively smooth surface we see today. This may mean that it is geologically very young, that the surface is very young, or that Triton drifted far out in space away from other objects that could impact it. Triton has very few craters but several large cracks. The gravitational pull of Neptune on the moon’s orbit will eventually pull Triton into Neptune or cause it to break up. Tidal forces also power the volcanic activity on Triton, though it spews nitrogen gases instead of molten rock like Jupiter’s Io. This has slowed its orbit, pulling Triton closer to Neptune to its current location. Neptune exerts significant tidal forces on Neptune. ![]() Triton has volcanic activity in the form of geysers. The thin atmosphere contains traces of methane, but it is mostly nitrogen. Uranus also rotates on its side, presenting rotating such that its North and South poles alternate facing the Sun. However, Triton is not the only large orbit with this habit. Because of Triton’s eccentric orbit, it is the only moon whose polar regions alternate in facing the sun. However, Triton is the only large moon with this trait. There are many small moons that have retrograde orbits which are known to be captured asteroids, including Neptune’s moon Nereid. Triton is unique because it is the only large moon that has a retrograde orbit, an orbit opposite of the planet’s rotation. Triton also rotates once per orbit, so that the same side always faces Neptune. Triton is named for a son of the Greek god Poseidon or Neptune. William Lassell discovered Triton almost three weeks after Neptune itself was discovered by German astronomers. This theory is also backed up by the fact that Pluto itself crosses Neptune’s orbit this means that Triton could have been a similar dwarf planet that crossed Neptune’s orbit but was captured by its gravity. This theory is further supported by the melted and reformed surface of Triton, giving it a relatively smooth surface. The Plutoids include the dwarf planet Pluto and similarly sized objects like Sedna and Makemake. Triton may have originated in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune filled with rocky bodies ranging from tiny asteroids to the Plutoids. Triton is unique for being a large moon with a retrograde orbit and its exotic early history. Triton is about two thirds the size of Earth’s moon. While Neptune has a dozen other moons, Triton’s mass is literally twenty times greater than the rest of the moons put together. ![]() And it is the seventh largest moon in solar system. It rotates and orbits Neptune every 5.9 Earth days. Triton has a diameter of roughly 2,700 kilometers. Triton is the largest of Neptune’s moons. ![]()
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