Neptune S Moons Names And Facts

There are 13 moons discovered to orbit around the 8th planet of the solar system neptune the first and the largest moon triton to be discovered was found just 17 days after the planet itself was discovered after triton s discovery it took another century for astronomers to find the second moon of neptune.

Neptune s moons names and facts. Neptune has 14 moons the latest discovered in 2013. Then it took one hundred years later to find the second moon nereid the hubble telescope found the 14th moon in 2013. Triton not to be confused with saturn s moon titan is far and away the largest of neptune s satellites. Each of the moons is named for a mythological greek water deity moving from closest to neptune to furthest out their names are naiad thalassa despina galatea larissa s 2004 n1 which has yet to receive an official name proteus triton nereid halimede sao laomedeia psamathe and neso.

Over a century passed before the discovery of the second natural satellite nereid neptune s outermost moon neso which has an orbital period of about 26 julian. Dutch american astronomer gerard kuiper for whom the kuiper belt was named found neptune s third largest moon nereid in 1949. He missed proteus the second largest because it s too dark and too close to neptune for telescopes of that. The planet neptune has 14 known moons which are named for minor water deities in greek mythology by far the largest of them is triton discovered by william lassell on october 10 1846 17 days after the discovery of neptune itself.

The gas giant planet neptune in our solar system has 14 known moons including the strange backwards orbiting triton.