Chapter 1861 Triton

Chapter 1861 Triton

Since Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea, its satellites are named after the lesser god of the sea.

Triton is the largest natural satellite of Neptune and the first Neptune satellite to be discovered. On October 10, 1846, British astronomer William Russell discovered Triton. It is the only large moon in the solar system with a retrograde orbit, which is in the opposite direction of the planet's rotation.

The diameter of Triton is 2706.8 kilometers. It is the seventh largest satellite in the solar system. It is the only Neptune satellite with enough mass to reach hydrostatic balance, and it is the second largest satellite in terms of the mass ratio of the main planet. Second to the mass ratio of the moon to the earth. Due to its retrograde orbit and Pluto-like composition, Triton is thought to be a dwarf planet captured from the Kuiper Belt.

Triton's surface is mostly frozen nitrogen, its outer shell is mostly water ice, it has an icy mantle, and its core is mostly rock and metal. The core accounts for two-thirds of its total mass. The average density is 2.061 gcm3, indicating that it contains about 15–35% water ice.

During its flyby of Triton in 1989, Voyager 2 found its surface temperature to be 38K (-235°C) and also discovered active geysers. Only spacecraft Voyager 2 has visited Triton. Triton is one of the few known geologically active moons in the solar system (the others are Io, Europa, Enceladus, and Titan).

Geological activity has resulted in Triton's relatively young surface with few obvious impact craters. The complex cryovolcanic and structural topography reveals its complex geological history. Parts of Triton's surface have geysers belching sublimated nitrogen, creating a thin nitrogen atmosphere with a pressure less than 70,000th that of Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.

Because Triton's surface shows a long history of melting, it is hypothesized that Triton's interior model is differentiated into a solid core, mantle, and crust like Earth's. Water, the most abundant volatile substance in the solar system, makes up Triton's mantle, which wraps around a core of rock and metal.

There is enough radioactively decaying rock inside Triton to maintain a liquid subsurface ocean at all times, similar to Europa and many other icy bodies in the outer solar system.

Scientists don't think this is enough to drive convection in Triton's icy crust, with strong oblique tides generating enough additional heat to complete the process, along with the observed signs of recent geological activity on the surface.

The black matter ejected from the surface of Triton is suspected to contain organic compounds. If there is liquid water in Triton, it is speculated that there may be an environment suitable for some form of life.

Zhao Zhongyao told the children about Neptune and its Triton while driving the spaceship. After listening to Feifei and Tiantian, they had a general understanding of Neptune and its largest satellite Triton.

‘Dad, then we flew directly to Triton! Or first go to the sky above Neptune to see. ’ Feifei looked at his father and said.

After hearing Feifei's words, Zhao Zhongyao said, 'Since we are going to Neptune, of course we must first see what kind of planet Neptune itself is. '

After listening to Zhao Zhongyao's words every day, he also smiled and said, 'Dad, let's take a look at the big black spot on the top of every star first! I wonder what the hell that is. '

‘Okay, let’s study the Great Dark Spot first. Zhao Zhongyao said the same.

After hearing what his father and sister said, Feifei also felt interested in the Great Dark Spot on Neptune, and wanted to see it too.

‘Okay, then let’s see what the Great Black Spot is! ’ Feifei also said happily.

In this way, Zhao Zhongyao drove the spacecraft and flew towards Neptune at an extremely fast speed.

About an hour later, Zhao Zhongyao and the others flew over Neptune.

Since Neptune is a gaseous planet, in the sky above Neptune, it feels like a huge balloon, and it is a huge blue balloon.

Originally, when observing Neptune through astronomical telescopes on the earth, some great dark spots could be seen. But when Zhao Zhongyao and the others drove the spaceship to the sky above Neptune, they couldn't see any big black spots at all.

‘Dad, why isn’t there a big dark spot on Neptune! ’ Tiantian is still a little strange.

Feifei also said incomprehensibly, 'Yes! How can we not see the Great Dark Spot. '

At this moment, Zhao Zhongyao thought for a while and said, 'Maybe it's because we are too close to Neptune! The Great Dark Spot should be some places with relatively high gas density in the atmosphere. But this density is only observable at long distances. '

After hearing Zhao Zhongyao's words, Feifei and Tiantian nodded.

‘Father, what should we do now, do we have to fly back? Feifei looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said.

After hearing Feifei's words, Zhao Zhongyao thought for a while and said,'No need, we might as well fly directly to Triton! I feel that as long as we fly to Triton, we should be able to observe the Great Dark Spot on Neptune. '

After hearing what Zhao Zhongyao said, Feifei also said, ‘Okay, then let’s go directly to Triton! Is our destination this time Triton? '

So, Zhao Zhongyao drove the spaceship again and flew towards Triton, and soon their spaceship flew over Triton.

The distance between Triton and Neptune is 350,000 kilometers, which is about the same as the distance from the moon to the earth.

But Neptune is much bigger than Earth. Looking at the earth from the moon, the earth is only as big as a car. But looking at Neptune from Triton, Neptune is almost the same

It's like a big city.

When Zhao Zhongyao flew the spaceship over Triton, they could see the big dark spot on Neptune clearly.

When they saw the Great Dark Spot, Zhao Zhongyao used the telescope on the spacecraft to carefully observe the Great Dark Spot on Neptune. After his research, he came to a conclusion. These great dark spots are just places with a relatively high atmospheric density on Neptune.

But this place with relatively high density will change with the flow of the atmosphere. In fact, these places with relatively high atmospheric density are caused by the air flow in the atmosphere on the surface of Neptune.

Because there are some airflows in Neptune's atmosphere that are constantly flowing and changing, when two or more airflows meet together, a vortex will be formed.

The air density in the center of this vortex may be relatively small, but the air density around the vortex may be relatively high.

Therefore, this vortex looks like a big black spot from a long distance. Of course, if you look closely, you can't feel its existence. After all, Neptune is very big, its gas surface is larger, and the great dark spot formed on its gas surface is also very large. Any big dark spot may be about the size of the earth.

Human beings are very small in space, and only when we are far enough away can we see some astronomical phenomena. If we were closer to this astronomical phenomenon, we would not be able to observe its existence.

This is like a famous poem we often say, 'I don't know the true face of Lushan Mountain, I just live in this mountain. '

After listening to Zhao Zhongyao's explanation, Feifei and Tiantian also felt that it made sense.

'Dad, what you said is very reasonable. It seems that this is the reason for the formation of the great dark spot on Neptune. Feifei looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said.

‘Dad, now that we know the cause of the Great Dark Spot, can we go to Triton and have a look. ' Tiantian also felt that what Zhao Zhongyao said was very reasonable, so he didn't want to see any more big black spots, but only wanted to go up Triton.

'Okay, let's go up to Triton and have a look. After Zhao Zhongyao finished speaking, he drove the spaceship again and flew towards the near surface of Triton.

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