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Triton orbits Neptune in a retrograde orbit—revolving in the opposite direction to the parent planet's rotation—the only large moon in the Solar System to do so. [3] [13] Triton is thought to have once been a dwarf planet from the Kuiper belt, captured into Neptune's orbit by the latter's gravity. [14]
A celestial object's axial tilt indicates whether the object's rotation is prograde or retrograde. Axial tilt is the angle between an object's rotation axis and a line perpendicular to its orbital plane passing through the object's centre. An object with an axial tilt up to 90 degrees is rotating in the same direction as its primary.
The term retrograde is from the Latin word retrogradus – "backward-step", the affix retro-meaning "backwards" and gradus "step". Retrograde is most commonly an adjective used to describe the path of a planet as it travels through the night sky, with respect to the zodiac, stars, and other bodies of the celestial canopy. In this context, the ...
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In this hypothesis, as the binary system approaches Neptune, it becomes unbound by tidal forces; one component of the binary is ejected from the system, and Triton is captured into a highly eccentric orbit around Neptune. For this to occur, the escaping companion must be massive enough to provide the impulse needed for a single pass capture ...
All but the outer two are within Neptune-synchronous orbit (Neptune's rotational period is 0.6713 day or 16 hours [20]) and thus are being tidally decelerated. Naiad, the closest regular moon, is also the second smallest among the inner moons (following the discovery of Hippocamp), whereas Proteus is the largest regular moon and the second ...
The largest of each planet are Himalia of Jupiter, Phoebe of Saturn, Sycorax of Uranus, and Triton of Neptune. Triton is rather unusual for an irregular moon; if it is excluded, then Nereid is the largest irregular moon around Neptune. It is currently thought that the irregular satellites were once independent objects orbiting the Sun before ...
Neptune was discovered in 1846 and is located 30 times farther from the sun than Earth. The planet's 164-year orbit takes it through some of the darkest and most remote regions of the outer solar ...