NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 27 May 2023: When Voyager snapped Neptune and Triton together
Among Neptune's 14 moons, Triton stands out as the largest. What makes it truly remarkable is its unconventional behaviour – it is the only moon in our solar system that orbits in a direction opposite to its planet's rotation.
According to scientists, Triton is believed to be a celestial body that originally belonged to the Kuiper Belt — a region of space beyond Neptune.
NASA says that there is a possibility that it may have been captured by Neptune's gravitational pull millions of years ago. Interestingly, Triton shares numerous similarities with Pluto, which is the most prominent representative of the Kuiper Belt.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a crescent phase Neptune with its moon Triton.
In 1989, as the Voyager 2 spacecraft gracefully journeyed through the outer reaches of the Solar System, it turned its gaze towards the Sun and captured a captivating sight: a crescent phase of the most distant planet, Neptune, accompanied by its moon Triton.This remarkable image of an icy giant planet and its largest satellite was taken from a unique perspective, positioned behind them, shortly after Voyager's closest encounter.
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