IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v441y2006i7090d10.1038_nature04792.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Neptune's capture of its moon Triton in a binary–planet gravitational encounter

Author

Listed:
  • Craig B. Agnor

    (Center for the Origin, Dynamics and Evolution of Planets, University of California)

  • Douglas P. Hamilton

    (University of Maryland at College Park)

Abstract

Triton's capture Unique among the Solar System's large satellites, Triton orbits Neptune in the direction opposite to the planet's spin. Triton's circular orbit is also tilted significantly from Neptune's equator. These facts suggest that the satellite once orbited the Sun before capture by Neptune, but previous models of the capture required improbable events. Craig Agnor and Douglas Hamilton have developed a more natural explanation. In this model, Triton was once a member of a binary that may have been rather like Pluto and its largest moon Charon. The pair strayed too close to Neptune and were torn apart; the companion escaped, but left Triton behind. The cover depicts this encounter. Neptune is orbited by primordial satellites that would not have survived long after Triton's capture. (Graphic based on planetary and satellite maps provided by Steve Albers, Jerry Gardner, James Hastings-Trew, Constantine Thomas and NOAA's ‘Science on a Sphere’ project.)

Suggested Citation

  • Craig B. Agnor & Douglas P. Hamilton, 2006. "Neptune's capture of its moon Triton in a binary–planet gravitational encounter," Nature, Nature, vol. 441(7090), pages 192-194, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:441:y:2006:i:7090:d:10.1038_nature04792
    DOI: 10.1038/nature04792
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04792
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature04792?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin Proudfoot & Darin Ragozzine, 2022. "The formation of Haumea and its family via binary merging," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:441:y:2006:i:7090:d:10.1038_nature04792. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.