spacetoday.net: New model explains capture of Triton

New model explains capture of Triton

Posted: Mon, May 15, 2006, 7:32 AM ET (1132 GMT)
Triton (NASA/JPL)

Planetary scientists have developed a new model that explains how Triton, Neptune's largest moon, ended up in its unusual orbit. According to a study published in the latest issue of the journal Nature, Triton was once part of a binary system, much like Pluto-Charon, that passed close to Neptune. The planet's gravity stripped Triton from its binary companion, putting the world into an inclined, circular, retrograde orbit around Neptune. The model explains the moon's unusual orbit more satisfactorily than earlier models, which relied on a collision with another moon or aerodynamic drag from the protoplanetary disk that created the solar system.