Mapping Triton
Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, was visited for the first and only time on August 25 and 26, 1989, when Voyager 2 hurtled past it. Since then, any maps of that moon were based on images taken from the sunlit side. Now, however, in a paper presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Ted Stryk and Phil Stooke have taken images from behind the sunlit side — where Triton appeared as a crescent and the imagery wasn’t as sharp — processed them, and applied them to the map. More from The Planetary Society Blog.
It’s amazing to see what can be done with 20-year-old data; then again, with no return trips to Neptune in the works, this is all we have to work with. The map of Triton will probably not be completed in my lifetime.
Posted on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Categories: Astronomy
Categories: Astronomy
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