images

Neptune from Triton orbit

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

a-nep99-00022

Date

2009-08-25

Looking like an over-ripe cantaloupe, Neptune's satellite Triton is in the foreground while Neptune itself looms on the upper right. At a distance of 220 thousand miles, Triton is about the same distance from Neptune as the moon is from the Earth. A frozen world that's somewhat smaller than the moon, Triton is the seventh and largest of Neptune's satellites, completing an orbit every six days. Triton is believed to be composed primarily of rock and water ice with traces of methane and other compounds.