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Moon · evidence and sources

Triton

Neptune's largest moon. The only large moon with a retrograde orbit, suggesting it was captured.

Kepler elements Orbit basis, the same label the app shows on the selection card.

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Every aspect, with its origin

One record per aspect. The origin says what kind of thing each value is; the source says where it came from; the limit says what it cannot tell you.

ObservedCatalogComputedReconstructedIllustrativeUndocumented
Orbit Computed

Orbit from mean elements

Triton is placed by solving a Keplerian orbit around neptune at the simulation time (a = 354,759 km, e = 0.000016, i = 156.9°, period 5.9 d).

MethodTwo-body propagation of the stored elements by the shared orbit service; no perturbations.
LimitA two-body orbit ignores perturbations; positions drift from the true ephemeris away from the element epoch.
Identity Catalog

Triton source record

Triton is presented using voyager-mapped surface; terrain-free observed-color continuation in the unmapped cap; measured bulk atmosphere data.

Retrieved
Physical data Catalog

Bulk properties

Triton: mean radius 1,353.4 km. These values are bundled with the object record and drive the rendered size.

Retrieved
Appearance Reconstructed

Voyager enhanced-color mosaic

Gray-blue marks the unobserved northern terrain. No colors or terrain are continued into the missing coverage.

MethodThis describes the displayed appearance only; it does not certify catalog dimensions, orbital elements or unobserved geology.
Appearance Reconstructed

Triton: the map behind the view

Voyager 2, 1989 enhanced color. Unmapped northern terrain remains gray-blue, with no invented terrain. The source publisher interpolated over old map grid lines; photographic lighting is retained.

MethodSource maps are compared with a physical globe or rings under simulated illumination. The image and camera view are not registered.
LimitVoyager 2, 1989 enhanced color. Unmapped northern terrain remains gray-blue, with no invented terrain. The source publisher interpolated over old map grid lines; photographic lighting is retained.
Description Undocumented

Description and facts

The short description and the fact list are written by the Space Time authors for orientation. They are not quoted from a catalog field and carry no citation of their own.

SourceSpace Time editorial text
LimitBackground reading is linked under Further reading; it is not the source of the displayed numbers.

What is not measured

  • Appearance: a reconstruction from measurements, not a direct observation. Voyager enhanced-color mosaic. Gray-blue marks the unobserved northern terrain. No colors or terrain are continued into the missing coverage.
  • Appearance: a reconstruction from measurements, not a direct observation. Triton: the map behind the view. Voyager 2, 1989 enhanced color. Unmapped northern terrain remains gray-blue, with no invented terrain. The source publisher interpolated over old map grid lines; photographic lighting is retained.

Not yet documented

  • Description: Background reading is linked under Further reading; it is not the source of the displayed numbers.

Dataset freshness

Snapshots this page depends on, read from the generated manifests at request time.
DatasetBundle updatedHorizonAutomated
Planetary satellite mean elements Mean elements (a, e, i, period) for every known natural satellite No, refreshed by hand
npm run generate:moons

Sources cited

Further reading

Wikipedia: Triton (background only; not the source of the displayed numbers)

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