Here's looking at you, Triton - probably.Here's looking at you, Triton--probably The last major planetary body photographed during the Voyager 2 spacecraft's 12-year grand tour of the solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. most likely will be Neptune's big satellite Triton, late in August. The only major moon not clearly visible during the mission so far is Saturn's Titan, which is masked by a dense methane haze, but Earth-based observations have detected methane on Triton, too. Will the surface of this strange, backwards-orbiting satellite (the only one known around any major planet) pass unseen? Scientists know little about Triton. Estimates of its diameter range from 2,200 to 4,800 kilometers, and its apparently steeply tilted axis may produce unusual seasonal variations in its atmosphere. John A. Stansberry, Jonathan I. Lunine and Martin G. Tomasko of the University of Arizona (body, education) University of Arizona - The University was founded in 1885 as a Land Grant institution with a three-fold mission of teaching, research and public service. in Tucson note that the atmosphere's optical depth, essentially a measure of its opacity Refers to being "opaque," which means to prevent light from shining through. For example, in an image editing program, the opacity level for some function might range from completely transparent (0) to completely opaque (100). , is likely to have increased nearly tenfold tenfold Adjective 1. having ten times as many or as much 2. composed of ten parts Adverb by ten times as many or as much Adj. 1. since the first spectral observations of Triton in 1975, but probably not enough to hide its surface. The optical depth is expected to have changed from 0.06 in 1975 to 0.6 by 1990, the year after Voyager's flyby fly·by also fly-by n. pl. fly·bys A flight passing close to a specified target or position, especially a maneuver in which a spacecraft or satellite passes sufficiently close to a body to make detailed observations without , because Triton's south polar cap polar cap n. 1. a. Either of the regions around the poles of the earth that are permanently covered with ice. b. A high-altitude icecap. 2. will be pointed directly at the sun. By comparison, the optical depth of the Martian atmosphere is typically about 0.02, suggesting that the optical depth during the Triton encounter will be "not large enough to obscure the surface, but large enough that it may be measurable by Voyager's cameras." |
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