St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: February 8, 2022

St. Louis MO

09 February, 2022

9:33 AM

Description

Press release from St. Louis Science Center: February 08, 2022 The gas giant planet Neptune hosts a moon named Triton. This is the largest moon of Neptune, but it has the unusual characteristic of orbiting Neptune in the opposite direction of all the other moons. Moons typically orbit a planet in the same direction that the planet rotates – in this case counterclockwise. The fact that Triton orbits Neptune in a clockwise direction suggests that it was not created at the same time as Neptune, and instead was captured by the planet's gravity after formation. This press release was produced by St. Louis Science Center. The views expressed here are the author's own.