Neptune's Mysterious Moon Nereid May Be an Original, Study Shows
JWST data and simulations suggest Nereid is an original Neptune moon that survived Triton’s capture, with observations compared against 54 Kuiper Belt bodies.
- On Wednesday, scientists reported that Neptune's moon Nereid may be the planet's last original companion to survive a cosmic crash, based on a study led by the California Institute of Technology using the NASA Webb Space Telescope.
- Neptune's biggest moon, Triton, barged in from the solar system's frigid outskirts billions of years ago, scattering the planet's original moons and likely forming their shattered remains, according to Matthew Belyakov and his team.
- Webb telescope observations suggest Nereid's composition is inconsistent with Kuiper Belt objects, and Belyakov said the latest findings "strongly rule out" that the moon was ensnared by planetary gravity.
- Calling the findings "an exciting result," Carnegie Science astronomer Scott Sheppard noted the orbit matches "the history we might expect from a moon that originally formed close to Neptune."
- Neptune has only been visited by one spacecraft, NASA's Voyager 2 in 1989, though scientists suggest a visiting spacecraft could clinch the origin story, none are currently planned.
52 Articles
52 Articles
Among Neptune's 16 Moons, It May Be the Only Original
Neptune's third-largest moon may be the only original one left. A new study argues Nereid is likely a survivor from the planet's original moon system, upending the long-standing idea that it was an interloper snatched from the distant Kuiper Belt, per Space.com . That capture scenario made sense because Nereid's...
Nereid, Neptune's third-largest moon, may be the only intact survivor of an ancient set of moons destroyed early in the solar system's history, according to a new analysis based on data from the James Space Telescope…
Associated Press News
Neptune's mysterious moon Nereid may be an original, study shows
Neptune's mysterious, far-flung moon Nereid may be the last of the planet's original companions. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology reported Wednesday that they used NASA's Webb Space Telescope to study the moon in 2024.
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