This is a planet in the solar system that has a moon orbiting backwards

KOMPAS.com – Celestial bodies move on their axis in two directions, namely retrograde and prograde.

Prograde or direct motion or forward motion is motion in the same direction as other objects in the system.

Retrograde motion is the apparent motion of a planet in the opposite direction to that of other objects in a system observed from a certain point of view, so it is as if backwards.

There are moons or natural satellites of the planet that move in prograde and some in retrograde. Which planet has a backward or retrograde moon?

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Reported from NASA, April 15, 2022, the planet that has the moon orbiting backwards is Neptune.

Neptune’s Moon Triton orbits backwards and is the only large moon of any planet. This orbital rate is called a retrograde orbit.

Astronomers aren’t sure why Triton orbits Neptune this way.

The main hypothesis is that Triton is a Kuiper Belt object that was captured by Neptune’s gravity millions of years ago. It’s the same as Pluto.

When a binary object passes close to Neptune, the gravitational interaction between the three objects causes the smaller binary object to gain speed and be ejected.

While Triton, which is larger in size, loses speed and remains trapped in an orbit around Neptune and happens to be moving in the opposite direction to the moons.moon of Neptune another as it approaches Neptune.

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About Triton

Reported from NASA, Triton was discovered on October 10, 1846 by British astronomer William Lassell. Just 17 days after Neptune was discovered.

Triton is the largest of Neptune’s 13 moons. Triton is locked in synchronous rotation with Neptune, one side facing the planet at all times.

However, due to the unusual tilt of their orbits, the two polar regions take turns facing the Sun.

The Triton has a diameter of 1,680 miles (2,700 kilometers). Spacecraft images show Triton has a sparse crater surface with smooth volcanic plains, mounds, and circular holes formed by icy lava flows.

Triton consists of a frozen nitrogen crust on top of an ice mantle believed to cover a core of rock and metal.

Neptune’s moon has a density about twice that of water. This is a higher density than that measured for almost all other satellites on the outer planets.

The other moons, namely Europa and Io, have a higher density. This implies that Triton contains more rock in its interior than the icy satellites of Saturn and Uranus.

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Atmosfer Triton

Triton’s thin atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen with small amounts of methane.

This atmosphere most likely comes from Triton’s volcanic activity, which is driven by seasonal warming by the Sun.

Triton, Io and Venus are the only bodies in the solar system other than Earth that are known to be volcanically active today.

Triton is one of the most stunning objects in the solar system. Because it is so cold, most of Triton’s nitrogen is condensed as frost.

It makes the surface sparkle like ice that reflects 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it.

NASA’s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to fly past Neptune and Triton.

The spacecraft found Triton’s surface temperature to be -391 degrees Fahrenheit (-235 degrees Celsius).

During a flyby in 1989, Voyager 2 also discovered that Triton has active geysers, making it one of the few geologically active moons in the solar system.

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