Crescent Neptune and Triton
Explanation:
Gliding silently through the outer
Solar System, the
Voyager 2 spacecraft camera captured
Neptune and
Triton together in crescent phase.
The
elegant picture of the
gas giant planet and its
cloudy moon was taken from behind just after
closest approach in 1989.
It could not have been taken from
Earth because
Neptune never shows a crescent phase to sunward Earth.
The
unusual vantage point also robs
Neptune of its familiar
blue hue,
as sunlight seen from here is scattered forward,
and so is reddened like the
setting Sun.
Neptune is smaller but more massive than
Uranus, has several
dark rings, and
emits more light than it receives from the Sun.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
