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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Tue Aug 26, 2014, 11:06 AM Aug 2014

A new look at Triton from Voyager 2

On August 25, 1989, Voyager passed within 40,000 kilometers of Neptune's large moon Triton, the last such visit the pioneering Voyager Project would make as it exited the then-known Solar System. In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of this event, a new high-resolution global map in 3-colors has been made of Triton, highlighting the young geologically active surface of the cold icy moon. The map is also in support of the New Horizons Pluto encounter next year in July, 2015.

The map has a nominal resolution of 600 meters and is in orange, green and blue, showing Triton in approximately natural colors. The dark areas to the north were not illuminated during the Voyager encounter. The map is centered on the Equator and extends to 180° W (at left) and 180° E (at right), and from North (top) to South poles (bottom).




Triton Movie
Voyager 2 made a hair-raising pass over Neptune’s large moon Triton in August 1989. Approaching from the deep south, Voyager passed over the north pole of cloud-swept Neptune, almost close enough to brush the far-attenuated upper atmosphere.The gravity of Neptune pulled the spacecraft down toward Triton, passing over the unlit north pole of that bitterly cold icy moon.This movie, using the best Voyager map, in color, recreates that encounter with Triton as Voyager 2 ended its tour of the Giant Planets and began its lonely trek into deep space.Triton is 2706 kilometers across.The map has a nominal resolution of 600 meters and is in orange, green and blue, showing Triton in approximately natural colors.The actual encounter as represented here begins about 3 days out from Triton (extending a week on the outbound trajectory) and at a speed of ~25 kilometers per second.



more
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/icy_moons/neptune/triton/
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A new look at Triton from Voyager 2 (Original Post) n2doc Aug 2014 OP
I know this makes no sense but I got a "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel", moment there for a second. BlueJazz Aug 2014 #1
Hey! That's TNG, not Voyager! Gore1FL Aug 2014 #4
I didn't think of that. good one. LOL! BlueJazz Aug 2014 #5
Beauty. byronius Aug 2014 #2
I stayed up all night watching PBS to see the live shots.... krispos42 Aug 2014 #3
Beautiful! Fearless Aug 2014 #6
Voyager was cooler than the moon landing! AlbertCat Aug 2014 #7
Triton? You mean, one of The Gawds? nikto Aug 2014 #8
 

BlueJazz

(25,348 posts)
1. I know this makes no sense but I got a "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel", moment there for a second.
Tue Aug 26, 2014, 11:20 AM
Aug 2014

Beautiful pics.. Thanks!

krispos42

(49,445 posts)
3. I stayed up all night watching PBS to see the live shots....
Tue Aug 26, 2014, 04:58 PM
Aug 2014

... Voyager 2 was sending back.

Minus the 4-hour speed-of-light delay.

I think I was up until 6 or 7 am!

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
7. Voyager was cooler than the moon landing!
Wed Aug 27, 2014, 01:18 PM
Aug 2014

IMHO....of course. But both were still totally unbelievable and breathtaking.


Those were the days!


I always remind people who say about...oh say particle physics... "It's just math"....

We sent 2 spacecraft the size of a VW Beetle into the vastness of space and they both made it to their multiple targets and behaved beautifully ....all with math. MATH IS REAL.

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