Messier Album | The Solar System | The Constellations | Celestial Objects 1949. It was discovered in the year 1949 by G. Kuiper.

Jupiter Voyager 2 Image of Nereid It was the second and last moon of Neptune to be discovered before the arrival of Voyager 2 (not counting a single observation of an occultation by Larissain 1981). The only available image of Naiad appears elongated due to smearing from the high speed of the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Nereid. Voyager 2 Image of Proteus Not much is known about this moon except that it circles Neptune in the same direction as the planet rotates.

Larissa orbits Neptune in the same direction as the planet rotates, and remains close to the planet's equatorial plane. Its surface is heavily cratered, and shows no signs of geologic activity. To search this site, type your search word(s) in the

Pluto
Not much else is known about this moon. It reflects about 14% of the sunlight that strikes it. Not much else is known about Despina. Proteus is larger than Nereid, but was discovered much later because it is so dark and so close to Neptune that it is difficult to spot in the planet's bright glare. Nereid is unique because it has one of the most eccentric orbits of any moon in our solar system. It is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geologic activity.

These moons are extremely small, and most were not discovered until the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune in 1989. Nereid is so far from Neptune that it requires 360 Earth days to make one orbit.

Naiad | Thalassa | Despina | Galatea | Larissa | Proteus | Nereid. The planet Neptune has 14 known moons, which are named for minor water deities in Greek … Nereid is famous for having the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the Solar System.

These recent discoveries bring the total number of Neptunian moons to 13.

Mars (NASA / JPL).

The only available image of Galatea appears elongated due to smearing.



It has an irregular shape and shows no sign of geologic activity. The only available image of Thalassa appears elongated due to smearing.

Because of their small size, it is possible that some of these moons may be captured asteroids or comets. This makes it a little brighter than Earth's moon and more than twice as reflective than Proteus. Galatea orbits Neptune in the same direction as the planet rotates, and remains close to the planet's equatorial plane. Nereid is a Moon that orbits round the planet Neptune. It was named after the sea nymphs who were the daughters of Nereus and Doris. Galatea [gal-eh-TEE-eh] is the fourth of Neptune's moons. Below is a listing of some of the largest of these moons in the order of their distance from Neptune.

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Naiad was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989. Voyager 2 Image of Larissa Earth

Larissa is irregularly shaped and appears to have a heavily cratered surface. 5,513,400 km (3,425,868 miles) Orbital Period around Neptune. Its volume is 20579526. Overview.

Thalassa [tuh-LASS-eh] is the second of Neptune's known moons.

Your Weight on Other Planets. All rights reserved. Not much else is known about Despina.

Nereid [NEER-ee-ed] is the eighth and outermost of Neptune's moons and is the third largest. Not much else is known about this moon. Nereid was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1949. It was named after a mythical sea god who could change his shape at will. This is unusual since a smaller moon, Nereid, was discovered 33 years earlier using an Earth-based telescope. Their mean distances from Neptune lie roughly between 15 million and 48 million km (9 … Mean Distance from Neptune. Sea and Sky receives commissions for purchases made through links on this site. 360.1362 Earth days.

It is irregular in shape and is probably about as large as an irregular body can be before gravity pulls it into a spherical shape. It reflects only 6% of the sunlight that strikes it. Nereid, Moon of Neptune. It is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geologic activity. Despina was discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. Its distance from Neptune ranges from 841,100 miles (1,353,600 km) to 5,980,200 miles (9,623,700 km).

Despina is the third moon of Neptune. Thalassa was discovered by in 1989 by Voyager 2 during its encounter with Neptune. In Greek mythology, Galatea was a Sicilian Nereid loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus. All content on this site is Copyright © 1998 - 2016 by Sea and Sky. It is named after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology and attendants of the god Neptune.

Proteus was most likely overlooked because it is so dark and the distance between Earth and Neptune is so great. He proposed the name in the report of his discovery. Proteus [PROH-tee-us] is the sixth of Neptune's moons and is the second largest.

Interstellar Space Naiad [NAY-ed] is the innermost moon of Neptune.

Nereid is famous for having the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the Solar System. Its density has been calculated at being 1.5.


Its mass is estimated/calculated at being 30,872,569,721,802,200,000 kg.

It was named after a daughter of Pelasgua in Greek mythology. It shows no signs of geologic activity.

This odd orbit suggests to some astronomers that Nereid may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper Belt object.

box below and click the search button: Home Page | Explore the The Sea | Explore the The Sky, Space News | Astronomy Resources | Astronomy Events Calendar Like Saturn's moon, Phoebe, Proteus is extremely dark in color. Asteroids Neptune

It was named after mythical nymphs who lived in springs, brooks, and fountains. (NASA / JPL).

Venus

This moon was one of several discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989.

Neptune’s orbit is almost perfectly circular; as a result, its distance from the Sun varies comparatively little over its nearly 164-year period of revolution. The Neptunian system system contains several smaller, irregular moons that we know very little about. Naiad has an irregular shape and shows no sign of geologic activity. 340 km (211.3 miles) Year Discovered. Very little is known about this small moon except that is circles Neptune in the same direction as the planet rotates.

Proteus was discovered in 1989 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Mean Diameter. Despina orbits Neptune in the same direction as the planet rotates, and remains close to the planet's equatorial plane. Content from this Website may not be used in any form without written permission from the site owner. It was named after daughter of Aether and Hemera.

Nereid was discovered on 1 May 1949 by Gerard P. Kuiper on photographic plates taken with the 82-inch telescope at the McDonald Observatory.

(NASA / JPL), The Sun Mercury Uranus

It was named after a nymph who was the daughter of Poseidon and Demeter in Greek mythology. Not much else is known about this moon.

Comets Nereid orbits Neptune in the prograde direction at an average distance of 5,513,400 km (3,425,900 mi), but its high eccentricity of 0.7507 takes it as close as 1,372,000 km (853,000 mi) and as far as 9,655,000 km (5,999,000 mi).

Larissa [LA-ree-suh] is the fifth known moon of Neptune. Its distance from Neptune ranges from 841,100 miles (1,353,600 km) to 5,980,200 miles (9,623,700 km).

It was the last of the new satellites to be discovered during the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune. The image accompanying each description is the best available at this time.

The discovery of Larissa is usually credited to Harold Reitsma in 1982.

Nereid is one of the outermost of Neptune's known moons and is among the largest. This odd orbit suggests to some astronomers that Nereid may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper Belt object. Proteus is one of the largest of Neptune… You may access information on one of the moons directly by clicking on its name below. Saturn