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User:LoveMeCatRose/Atmosphere of Triton

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Later observations

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In the 1990s, observations from Earth were made of the occultation of stars by Triton's limb. These observations indicated the presence of a denser atmosphere than was inferred from Voyager 2 data.[1] The surface pressure in the late 1990s is thought to have increased to at least 19 μbar[2] or, possibly, even to 40 μbar.[3] Other observations have shown an increase in temperature by 5% from 1989 to 1998.[4] One of the scientists involved in investigation of Triton, James L. Elliot, said:[4]

"At least since 1989, Triton has been undergoing a period of global warming. Percentage-wise, it's a very large increase."

These observations indicate Triton has a warm southern-hemisphere summer season that only happens once every few hundred years, near solstices.[5] Hypotheses for this warming include the sublimation of frost on Triton's surface and a decrease in ice albedo, which would allow more heat to be absorbed.[5][6] Another theory argues the changes in temperature are a result of the deposition of dark, red material from geological processes on the moon. Because Triton's bond albedo is among the highest within the solar system, it is sensitive to small variations in spectral albedo.[7]

Further observations in 2008, 2017, and 2022 do not support the global warming trend on Triton. The warming trend in the southern hemisphere only continued until the year 2000, then the area returned to its 1989 temperatures by 2017 and stayed stable through the 2022 analysis.[8] By taking measurements during specific events in 1989, 1995, 1997, 2008, 2017, and 2022, researchers were able to analyze and study how seasonal changes affect Triton’s atmosphere and calculate complex seasonal cycles based on Triton’s orbital precession of about 650 years.[8] There are many mechanics that contribute to this cycle. First, both Neptune and Triton have complex and significant axial tilts. Triton's orbit is tilted about 23° relative to Neptune's equator. This substantial tilt pulls on Triton’s orbit asymmetrically. Neptune's axis is tilted at about 28° relative to its orbit around the Sun.[9] Additionally, as Triton orbits Neptune, the plane of its orbit slowly rotates due to retrograde motion. As Triton precesses about every 650 years, Neptunes axial tilt aligns with Triton’s orbital tilt causing one of Triton’s poles to point directly to the sun.[9] By using the epoch from 1980 through 2020, scientists have been able to hypothesize that Triton’s seasons last about 35 to 40 years and the entire seasonal cycle lasts about 140 to180 years.[9] In addition, scientists were able to identify an intense summer season, with the subsolar latitude reaching about 50° South in 2020.[8]

In 2021, the subsolar latitude was moving toward the equator and expected to be 36°, moving towards a moderate latitude of 20° and a low latitude of 5° at the far end of the seasonal cycle. In addition to calculating Triton's 650 year procession, scientists have also calculated the periods of low, moderate, and severe seasons with low mapping from years 2300 through 2400, moderate mapping from years 1500 through 1650, and severe mapping from years 1850 through 2200.[9] With future exploration already being planned in hopes of gaining a better understanding of Triton and its atmosphere.

JWST captures new images of Neptune and its moons

James Webb Space Telescope

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On July 12, 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope took pictures of Neptune and its moons.[10] Triton is pictured as a large, bright blue, eight-pointed object. The brightness is due to Triton’s icy atmosphere reflecting over 70% of sunlight back into space.[11] The blue color is a result of JWST’s NIRCam, near infrared camera, which has an infrared range of 0.6 to 5 microns. The NIRCam converted the infrared light from Triton to blue using the F140m filter indicating that the infrared light from Triton represents a visible light wavelength of 1.40 microns.[11] [C][12] The diffraction spike pattern is a consequence of the bright light bending around the edges of the JWST. Only the brightest objects will show this diffraction spike pattern in images.[13] In addition, the reason that Triton appears much brighter than Neptune is due to the methane gases on Neptune absorbing the infrared light.[11]

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References

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  1. ↑ Savage, D.; Weaver, D. & Halber, D. "Hubble Space Telescope Helps Find Evidence that Neptune's Largest Moon Is Warming Up". Hubblesite. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  2. ↑ Elliot, J.L.; Strobel, D.F.; Zhu, X.; et al. (2000). "The Thermal Structure of Triton's Middle Atmosphere" (PDF). Icarus. 143 (2): 425–428. Bibcode:2000Icar..143..425E. doi:10.1006/icar.1999.6312.
  3. ↑ Elliot, J.L.; Hammel, H.B.; Wasserman, L.H.; et al. (1998). "Global warming on Triton" (PDF). Nature. 393 (6687): 765–767. Bibcode:1998Natur.393..765E. doi:10.1038/31651. S2CID 40865426.
  4. 1 2 "MIT researcher finds evidence of global warming on Neptune's largest moon". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1998-06-24. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  5. 1 2 Lellouch, E.; de Bergh, C.; Sicardy, B.; et al. (2010). "Detection of CO in Triton's atmosphere and the nature of surface-atmosphere interactions". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 512: L8. arXiv:1003.2866. Bibcode:2010A&A...512L...8L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014339. S2CID 58889896.
  6. ↑ "Global Warming Detected on Triton". Scienceagogo.com. 1998-05-28. Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  7. ↑ Buratti, Bonnie J.; Hicks, Michael D.; Newburn Jr., Ray L. (1999). "Does global warming make Triton blush?". Nature. 397 (6716): 219–20. Bibcode:1999Natur.397..219B. doi:10.1038/16615. PMID 9930696.
  8. 1 2 3 Sicardy, B.; Tej, A.; Gomes-Júnior, A. R.; Romanov, F. D.; Bertrand, T.; Ashok, N. M.; Lellouch, E.; Morgado, B. E.; Assafin, M.; Desmars, J.; Camargo, J. I. B.; Kilic, Y.; Ortiz, J. L.; Vieira-Martins, R.; Braga-Ribas, F. (2024-02-01). "Constraints on the evolution of the Triton atmosphere from occultations: 1989–2022". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 682: L24. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202348756. ISSN 0004-6361.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Bertrand, T.; Lellouch, E.; Holler, B. J.; Young, L. A.; Schmitt, B.; Marques Oliveira, J.; Sicardy, B.; Forget, F.; Grundy, W. M.; Merlin, F.; Vangvichith, M.; Millour, E.; Schenk, P. M.; Hansen, C. J.; White, O. L. (2022-02-01). "Volatile transport modeling on Triton with new observational constraints". Icarus. 373: 114764. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114764. ISSN 0019-1035.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  10. ↑ "Neptune (NIRCam) - NASA Science". 2022-09-21. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  11. 1 2 3 "New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune's Rings in Decades - NASA Science". 2022-09-21. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  12. ↑ "Titan (NIRCam) - NASA Science". 2022-12-01. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  13. ↑ "Webb's Diffraction Spikes - NASA Science". 2022-07-07. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
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