| Piú votate - Neptune and His Moons |
Proteus-vg2_1138920.jpgProteus (HR)54 visitenessun commento
(5 voti)
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ZA-U-Triton.jpgFarewell Triton... (HR)55 visitenessun commento
(5 voti)
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Nereid-CJH.gifNereid55 visiteNereid was discovered in 1949 by astronomer Gerard Kuiper. Nereid is about 340 Km (210 miles) in diameter and is so far from Neptune that it requires 360 days to make one orbit. Voyager's best photos of Nereid were taken from about 4,7 MKM (about 2,9 MMs). The photos show that the moon's surface reflects about 14% of the sunlight that strikes it, making it somewhat more reflective than Earth's Moon and more than twice as reflective as Proteus. Nereid's orbit is the most eccentric in the Solar System. Its distance to Neptune ranges from about 1.353.600 Km (about 841.100 miles) to 9.623.700 Km (such as about 5.980.200 miles).
(5 voti)
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Triton-clouds-PIA02203.jpgClouds on the limb of Triton75 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Limb clouds over Triton's South Polar Cap. Image is stretched to enhance the limb clouds and surface features. The image shows the cloud on the west limb that extends about 100 Km along the limb and appears detached over much of its length".
Nuvole nel cielo di Tritone: non si tratta di un'ipotesi affascinante, bensì di un fatto. Ora la domanda non può che essere questa: qual'è la composizione delle nuvole di Tritone?
(5 voti)
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Triton-PIA02246_modest.jpgTriton from Voyager 2 (real colors)56 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Features as small as 100 Km across can be seen in this color image of Neptune's satellite Triton, photographed by Voyager 2 on Aug. 20, 1989, while it was still 5.4 MKM (3.3 million miles) from Neptune. Triton's overall pinkish color may be due to reddish materials produced by irradiation of methane gas and ice on the satellite. The dark areas near the top of the image seem to be part of a belt of dark markings observed near Triton's equator at different longitudes. Generally, darker areas on Triton appear to be somewhat redder in color than brighter areas. The central longitude in the image is 123°. Here the south pole is at about 6 o'clock, approximately one sixth of the way up from the bottom. The color image was made from three black and white frames, taken through clear, violet and green filters".
(5 voti)
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Triton-PIA00317-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgThe Southern Regions of Triton (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)77 visiteThis wonderful and highly detailed global Absolute Natural Color image mosaic of Triton was obtained in the AD 1989 by the NASA - Voyager 2 Spacecraft during its Fly-By of the Neptunian System.
With a radius of approx. 1350 Km (such as a little more than 838 miles) and therefore some 22% smaller than Earth's Moon, Triton is by far the largest Natural Satellite of Neptune. Furthermore, Triton is one of the only 3 (three) objects in the Solar System known to have a Nitrogen-dominated Atmosphere (the others are our Home Planet Earth and the Saturnian giant moon, Titan). Triton has the coldest Surface known anywhere in the Solar System (38 K, or about - 391 degrees Fahrenheit, or - 235° Celsius): it is so cold that most of Triton's Nitrogen is condensed as Frost, making it the only Celestial Body in the whole Solar System that is known to have a Surface mainly composed of Nitrogen Ice.
The pinkish deposits constitute a vast South Polar Cap, that is believed to contain Methane Ice, which somehow reacted under Sunlight so to form pink or red Compounds. The Dark Streaks overlying these pink ices are believed to be an Icy and - perhaps - Carbonaceous Dust deposited from huge Geyser-like Plumes, some of which were found to be active during the Voyager 2 Fly-By. The light gray colored band visible in this image extends all the way around Triton, near the Equator and it may consist of relatively fresh Nitrogen Frost Deposits. The vaguely greenish areas of Triton (central and upper right side) include what is known as "The Cantaloupe Terrain", whose origin is still unknown, and a set of "Cryovolcanic" Landscapes apparently produced by Icy-cold Liquids (now totally frozen) that were erupted from Triton's interior.
This frame (which is the Original NASA - Voyager 2 color image mosaic published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 00317) has been additionally processed and then re-colorized, according to an educated guess carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga (LXTT-IPF), in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Voyager 2 Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Neptunian moon Triton), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among others, the existence of different Elements present on the Surface of Triton, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.MareKromium
(4 voti)
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Triton-PIA02234~0.jpgTriton (possible Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)57 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(4 voti)
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Triton-PIA12184.jpgVolcanic Plains on Triton (possible Natural Colors; credits: Lunexit)57 visiteCaption NASA:"This view of the Volcanic Plains of Neptune's moon Triton was produced using topographic maps derived from images acquired by NASA's Voyager Spacecraft during its August 1989 flyby, 20 years ago this week (August 2009).
Triton, Neptune's largest moon, was the last solid object visited by the Voyager 2 Spacecraft on its epic 10-year tour of the Outer Solar System.
This regional view shows a variety of Terrains on Triton, including the smooth Volcanic Plains in the foreground, formed by icy lavas. Parts of this Surface have been eroded, forming mounds and depressions with relief of tens to a few hundred meters (several hundred feet). The round pits and mounds across the center of the scene are probably volcanic explosion or collapse craters, the largest of which (at bottom center) is approx. 250 meters deep (820 feet) and approx. 15 Km (about 9 miles) across.
Many of these pits are aligned in chains similar to those seen in basaltic volcanic areas on Earth, such as Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, except the lavas on Triton are water and other ices that erupted onto the Surface.
In the distance is one of two large walled smooth plains of unknown origin. These plains are roughly 200 Km (about 124 miles) across.
The Surface of Triton is very rugged, scarred by rising blobs of ice (Diapirs), Faults and Volcanic Pits and Lava Flows composed of water and other ices. The Surface is also extremely young and sparsely cratered. It may even be younger than the Surface of Europa, one of the first objects visited by the Voyager Spacecraft and could be geologically active today.
Although locally very rugged, Triton has no large mountains or deep basins and regional relief is low, a consequence of its high internal heat and the low strength of most ices. This scene is on the order of 500 Km (about 310 miles) across and is taken from a new flyover movie across the Equatorial Regions of Triton commemorating the Voyager 20-year anniversary of this flyby.
Vertical relief has been exaggerated by a factor of 25 to aid interpretation".MareKromium
(4 voti)
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Triton-PIA12187.jpgTritonian Terminator55 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(4 voti)
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Triton.JPGNorthern Latitudes on Triton54 visiteVoyager 2 took this picture of Neptune's largest satellite, Triton, from less than 80.000 Km (about 50.000 miles). The image shows an area in Triton's Northern Hemisphere.
The Sun is just above the horizon, so features cast shadows that accentuate height differences. The large, smooth area in the right-hand side of the image shows a single, fresh, impact crater. Otherwise there is no evidence of impacts such as those that have pocked the faces of most of the satellites Voyager 2 has visited.
Many low cliffs in the area, bright where they face the Sun, and when they face away from it, suggest and intricate history for Triton. The cliffs might be due either to melting of surface materials or, possibly, caused by unusual fluid materials that flowed sometime in Triton's past.MareKromium
(4 voti)
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Triton-PIA02213-moe-ELEI.jpgThe limb of Triton (natural colors - elab. Lunexit)55 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(4 voti)
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Triton-PIA02234.jpgTriton, from 530.000 Km!55 visiteCaption NASA:"Voyager 2 was 530.000 Km (330,000 miles) from Neptune's largest satellite, Triton, when this photo was taken, Aug. 24, 1989. With a resolution of 10 Km (about 6 miles), this is the first photo of Triton to reveal surface topography. The South Pole, continuously illuminated by sunlight at this season, is at bottom left. The boundary between the bright Southern Hemisphere and the darker Northern Hemisphere is clearly visible. Both the darker regions to the north and the very bright sub-equatorial band show a complex pattern of irregular topography that somewhat resembles "fretted terrain" on parts of Venus and Mars.
The pattern of dark and light Regions over most of the Southern Hemisphere will require HR images for interpretation. Also evident are long, straight lines that appear to be surface expressions of internal, tectonic processes. No large impact craters are visible, suggesting that the crust of Triton has been renewed relatively recently that is, within the past billion years or less".MareKromium
(4 voti)
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