![]() ![]() ![]() Triton is slightly larger than Pluto, has a very similar internal density and bulk composition, and has the same low-temperature volatiles frozen on its surface. Pluto is unlikely to be a copy of Triton, but some of the same types of features may be present. Tidal heating has likely melted the interior of Triton, producing the volcanoes, fractures and other geological features that Voyager saw on that bitterly cold, icy surface. Although both bodies originated in the outer solar system, Triton was captured by Neptune and has undergone a radically different thermal history than Pluto. Among the improvements on the map are updates to the accuracy of feature locations, sharpening of feature details by removing some of the blurring effects of the camera, and improved color processing.Īlthough Triton is a moon of a planet and Pluto is a dwarf planet, Triton serves as a preview of sorts for the upcoming Pluto encounter. The production of the new Triton map was inspired by anticipation of NASA’s New Horizons encounter with Pluto, coming up a little under a year from now. Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/Lunar & Planetary Institute Paul Schenk, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, used Voyager data to construct this video recreating that exciting encounter. The Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Triton, a moon of Neptune, on August 25, 1989. The rest of the surface was either in darkness or seen as blurry markings. Because of the speed of Voyager’s visit and the slow rotation of Triton, only one hemisphere was seen clearly at close distance. In 1989, most of the northern hemisphere was in darkness and unseen by Voyager. ![]() Voyager’s “eyes” saw in colors slightly different from human eyes, and this map was produced using orange, green and blue filter images. The colors have been enhanced to bring out contrast but are a close approximation to Triton’s natural colors. The new Triton map has a resolution of 1,970 feet (600 meters) per pixel. The map, produced by Paul Schenk, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, has also been used to make a movie recreating that historic Voyager encounter, which took place 25 years ago, on August 25, 1989. Like an old film, Voyager’s historic footage of Triton has been “restored” and used to construct the best-ever global color map of that strange moon. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft gave humanity its first glimpse of Neptune and its moon Triton in the summer of 1989. The Lunar and Planetary Institute used Voyager’s 1989 historic footage of Neptune’s moon Triton to construct the best-ever global color map of the strange moon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lunar & Planetary Institute This map has a resolution of 1,970 feet (600 meters) per pixel. Paul Schenk, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, used Voyager data to construct the best-ever global color map of Triton. The Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Triton, a moon of Neptune, in the summer of 1989. ![]()
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