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Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times the mass of Earth and slightly more massive, but denser and smaller, than fellow ice giant Uranus.
The rings of Neptune are made of extremely dark material, likely organic compounds processed by radiation, similar to those found in the rings of Uranus. [ 5 ] The proportion of dust in the rings (between 20% and 70%) is high, [ 5 ] while their optical depth is low to moderate, at less than 0.1. [ 6 ] Uniquely, the Adams ring includes five ...
Triton dominates the Neptunian moon system, with over 99.5% of its total mass. This imbalance may reflect the elimination of many of Neptune's original satellites following Triton's capture. [4][5] Triton (lower left) compared to the Moon (upper left) and Earth (right), to scale. Triton is the seventh-largest moon and sixteenth-largest object ...
Neptune is considered an "ice giant" because of its internal chemical composition. Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, the gas giants of the outer solar system, Neptune is richer in elements heavier than ...
Proteus (/ ˈ p r oʊ t i ə s / PROH-tee-əs), also known as Neptune VIII, is the second-largest Neptunian moon, and Neptune's largest inner satellite. Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989, it is named after Proteus , the shape-changing sea god of Greek mythology . [ 11 ]
The ice giants Uranus and Neptune live up to their name. Although humans have only ever sent one spacecraft (Voyager 2) toward these far-flung worlds, scientists have a pretty good idea that these ...
The geology of Triton encompasses the physical characteristics of the surface, internal structure, and geological history of Neptune 's largest moon Triton. With a mean density of 2.061 g/cm3, [1] Triton is roughly 15-35% water ice by mass; Triton is a differentiated body, with an icy solid crust atop a probable subsurface ocean and a rocky core.
In order of distance from Neptune, the regular moons are Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Hippocamp, and Proteus. 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 ...