Triton Facts for Kids

A Picture of Neptune's Moon Triton
  • Moon Name: Triton
  • Formed: About 4.5 billion years ago
  • Discovered: October 10, 1846 by William Lassell
  • Distance from Neptune: 220,438 miles
  • Distance from the Sun: 2.7 billion miles on average
  • Time to Orbit Around Neptune: Almost 6 Earth days
  • Total Surface Area: 14,302,722 square miles

15 Triton Facts for Kids

  1. Triton formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
  2. Triton was discovered by William Lassell on October 10th, 1846.
  3. Triton is named about the Greek mythological son of Poseidon.
  4. Triton is one of Neptune’s fourteen known moons.
  5. Triton is the only moon in our solar system that has a retrograde orbit. This means Triton rotates in the opposite direction than Neptune.
  6. Triton has a radius of about 840 miles.
  7. Triton is about 220,438 miles from Neptune.
  8. Triton has a thin atmosphere which is mostly made up of nitrogen and tiny amounts of methane.
  9. It takes Triton almost six Earth days to orbit the planet Neptune.
  10. Triton is the largest moon that orbits the planet Neptune.
  11. Triton is the seventh largest moon in our solar system.
  12. Triton is believed to be one of the six moons geologically active in our solar system.
  13. NASA’s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Triton.
  14. The Voyager 2 spacecraft discovered Triton had active geysers.
  15. It’s theorized that Triton use to be a dwarf planet that Neptune captured from the Kuiper belt.

Additional Resources on Neptune’s moon Triton

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