Triton: Neptune's Weird Moon!

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Published on September 24, 2020 12:00:21 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDfpgwI8ZKs

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From its surface and construction, to its uniqueness in regards to moons, and more! Join us as we reveal to you Triton: Neptune's weird moon facts and history!
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6. Discovery and Naming
When it comes to the discovery of planets and moons, many have their own unique stories and histories of being found, and Triton is no exception to that.
Triton was discovered by British astronomer William Lassell in 1846. Which is important because it was found just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune. Which is odd when you consider that many other moons were found long after their planets had been discovered, and some were even convinced that they weren't moons at first. But that's another story for another time.
But the story is more layered than you may expect. This all started when John Herschel heard of Neptune's discovery, interested in what this could all mean he went to Lassell and suggested that he look for moons that might be around the planet. Lassell did so and discovered Triton eight days later. Which is interesting because he honestly wasn't an astronomer, but a brewer, and Lassell spotted Triton with a aperture metal mirror reflecting telescope that he built on his own. This telescope was later donated to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in the 1880s, but was eventually dismantled.
This is still an amazing thing, because you usually hear of the legends using very special telescopes to find moons and planets, but Lassell just built his own and looked to the stars. If only everything was so simple.
As for the naming of the moon, Triton is named after the Greek sea god Triton, the son of Poseidon who happens to be one of the main Greek gods. The name was first proposed by Camille Flammarion in a book and was officially adopted many decades later.
5. Orbits and Rotations
Triton is unique among all large moons in the Solar System for its retrograde orbit around its planet (i.e. it orbits in a direction opposite to the planet's rotation). Certain moons of Jupiter and Saturn also have these kinds of orbits, as do some of Uranus's moons. The difference though is that these moons are all much more distant and are small in comparison; the largest of them (Phoebe) has only 8% of the diameter of Triton. So for Triton to do this is very odd indeed, which has gotten the attention of many as they try and understand why exactly this moon has such an odd orbit.
Triton's orbit precesses forward relative to Neptune's spin with a period of about 678 Earth years making its Neptune-orbit-relative inclination vary between 127° and 180°. That inclination is currently 130°; Triton's orbit is now near its maximum departure from coplanarity with Neptune's.
Triton's rotation is tidally locked to the extent that as it goes around Neptune it'll always keep one face oriented toward the planet at all times. In fact its equator is near perfectly aligned with its orbital plane. Triton's rotational axis is about 40° from Neptune's orbital plane, and hence at some point during Neptune's year each pole points fairly close to the Sun, which is similar to its sister planet of Uranus. As Neptune orbits the Sun, Triton's polar regions shift in looking at the Sun, resulting in seasonal changes as one pole shifts towards the sunlight. In 2010, these were seen by us here on Earth, kind of making it a rare sight.
Triton's revolution around Neptune has become a nearly perfect circle, which is not something you'd expect to hear. But how exactly the moon was able to do that is a bit unknown. There are many factors that play into this and scientists aren't sure how many worked towards this achievement. Though certain gasses possibly slowing down the moon during its origin period to obtain this is likely.
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