Neptune's capture of its moon Triton in a binary–planet gravitational encounter

Craig B. Agnor () and Douglas P. Hamilton
Additional contact information
Craig B. Agnor: Center for the Origin, Dynamics and Evolution of Planets, University of California
Douglas P. Hamilton: University of Maryland at College Park

Nature, 2006, vol. 441, issue 7090, 192-194

Abstract: Triton's capture Unique among the Solar System's large satellites, Triton orbits Neptune in the direction opposite to the planet's spin. Triton's circular orbit is also tilted significantly from Neptune's equator. These facts suggest that the satellite once orbited the Sun before capture by Neptune, but previous models of the capture required improbable events. Craig Agnor and Douglas Hamilton have developed a more natural explanation. In this model, Triton was once a member of a binary that may have been rather like Pluto and its largest moon Charon. The pair strayed too close to Neptune and were torn apart; the companion escaped, but left Triton behind. The cover depicts this encounter. Neptune is orbited by primordial satellites that would not have survived long after Triton's capture. (Graphic based on planetary and satellite maps provided by Steve Albers, Jerry Gardner, James Hastings-Trew, Constantine Thomas and NOAA's ‘Science on a Sphere’ project.)

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04792 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:441:y:2006:i:7090:d:10.1038_nature04792

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature04792

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().