Word: nereid
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Though Voyager is still about 22 million miles from Neptune, it has already made several discoveries. It has found a new moon to add to the known duo, % Triton and Nereid. Labeled 1989-N1, the object is between 125 and 400 miles across and has a surprisingly ordinary orbit. Like most moons, 1989-N1 orbits nearly over its planet's equator and in the same direction as the planet's rotation, implying that it formed with or soon after Neptune...
...about the size of earth's moon, orbits in the opposite direction. That has led astronomers to guess that Triton might be a large asteroid that was captured by Neptune's gravity. Such an intrusion should have disrupted the paths of any existing moons. This would explain tiny Nereid's highly elongated and tilted orbit. But 1989-N1 is just "sitting there," says Voyager project scientist Torrence Johnson, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Johnson expects that the probe will discover more moons, shedding light on Triton's origins. "All of the outer planets have lots of junk around them...