Word: triton
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...from the first frame, Disney's suave storytellers cue you to wonderment in their adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. Ariel is a mermaid princess with a teenager's yen to travel beyond her world and become part of the forbidden one above. To her father, King Triton of the Mer-people, humans are "spineless, savage, harpooning fish eaters." To Ariel they are skyrockets and sea chanteys and buried treasure -- the thrilling unknown. Then she spies hunky, lonely Prince Eric, and it's impossible love at first sight. For Eric, when he is saved by the mermaid...
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...
...contrast, Triton, which is 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...
Another focal point of scientific interest is Neptune's rings. Indirect evidence suggests that they exist, but as arcs rather than true rings. Voyager's photographs may help explain how they formed. The space probe will also examine reddish Triton, whose methane atmosphere is believed to overlie a surface puddled with liquid nitrogen...
...last swing on its grand tour of the outer planets. Launched in 1977, the probe has already accumulated scientific data and taken spectacular pictures at Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Next stop: Neptune. From earth, Neptune appears as a tiny, fuzzy green ball of light, and its major moon, Triton, as an orange dot. Voyager will provide the first closeup view of both. Triton is especially tantalizing, since it is believed to have its own thin atmosphere of methane, and may be partly covered by oceans of liquid nitrogen...