- 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
- Triton formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
- Triton was discovered by William Lassell on October 10th, 1846.
- Triton is named about the Greek mythological son of Poseidon.
- Triton is one of Neptune’s fourteen known moons.
- Triton is the only moon in our solar system that has a retrograde orbit. This means Triton rotates in the opposite direction than Neptune.
- Triton has a radius of about 840 miles.
- Triton is about 220,438 miles from Neptune.
- Triton has a thin atmosphere which is mostly made up of nitrogen and tiny amounts of methane.
- It takes Triton almost six Earth days to orbit the planet Neptune.
- Triton is the largest moon that orbits the planet Neptune.
- Triton is the seventh largest moon in our solar system.
- Triton is believed to be one of the six moons geologically active in our solar system.
- NASA’s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Triton.
- The Voyager 2 spacecraft discovered Triton had active geysers.
- It’s theorized that Triton use to be a dwarf planet that Neptune captured from the Kuiper belt.
Pictures of the moon Triton
A colorful photo of Triton’s limb by Voyager 2.Credit: NASA
A detailed surface photo of Neptune’s moon Triton.Credit: NASA
An amazing photo of Triton’s volcanic plains.Credit: NASA
Additional Resources on Neptune’s moon Triton
- In Depth | Triton – NASA Solar System Exploration – Discover more about Triton, Pluto’s largest moon on the NASA Solar System Exploration website.
- Triton: Neptune’s Odd Moon – Explore all the oddities of Triton on the Space.com website.
- Triton | Facts & Composition – More facts about Triton on the Britannica website.
- Triton Moon Wikipedia – Learn more about Triton on the Wikipedia weibsite.