What causes geysers to erupt on Triton?

Conversely, they may form when solar radiation heats a thin layer of nitrogen ice on Triton’s surface. This heating causes the nitrogen to vaporize, which forms geysers that extend 26,000 feet (8 km) above the surface.

How was Triton formed?

Evolution of Triton It is thought to be a captured object that perhaps originally formed, like Pluto, as an independent icy planetesimal in the outer solar system. At some point in Neptune’s early history, Triton’s orbit around the Sun may have carried it too near the giant planet.

Why are there geysers on Neptune’s biggest moon Triton?

Pressure from material below pushes out cracks and vents in the thin shell of ice that covers Triton. That lets the nitrogen gas and plumes of dust blast out and into the atmosphere. These geysers can erupt for fairly long periods of time — up to a year in some cases.

What produces the nitrogen and methane in Triton’s atmosphere and the erupting geysers on the surface?

One explanation is that the crustal ices of Triton were heated at some stage in the moon’s history (perhaps when Triton was captured by Neptune) , and warm ices of various compositions ( nitrogen, hydrated ammonia, methane, carbon monoxide) erupted onto the surface.

Why is Triton volcano?

Voyager scientists say one explanation for the mechanism that drives such eruptions is that sunlight absorbed by dark particles inside Triton’s ice cap warms nitrogen ice, causing the pressure of nitrogen gas to increase.

What are the geysers on Triton?

During the summer of 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft discovered the dark plumes of geysers rising approximately five miles (eight kilometers) above the surface of Neptune’s largest moon, Triton. The geysers of Triton are likely composed of nitrogen frost and organic compounds, and eruptions may last up to a year.

What is Triton’s likely origin?

According to this scenario, Triton was originally a member of a binary pair of objects orbiting the Sun. Gravitational interactions during a close approach to Neptune then pulled Triton away from its binary companion to become a satellite of Neptune.

What is Triton’s orbital period?

141 hoursTriton / Orbital period

What are Triton’s geysers made of?

What about Triton’s orbit makes it such an unusual satellite?

Triton is the largest of Neptune’s 13 moons. It is unusual because it is the only large moon in our solar system that orbits in the opposite direction of its planet’s rotation―a retrograde orbit.

Why do you suspect that Triton has a geologically active past what sources of energy could have powered such activity?

why do we suspect that triton has had an active past? what source of energy could power such activity? few craters mark the surface, suggesting that whatever craters formed have been erased by later activity. it also had nitrogen gas geysers.

Does Triton have lava?

Triton`s volcanism is very similar to that on Earth except it is icy. Instead of hot lava at 1,000 degrees, it has fluid ice at minus 300 degrees. ”The volcanoes on Triton seem to be a gentler version of the volcanoes on Earth,” said Soderblom of the U.S. Geological Survey.