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Glossary term: Tritão

Description: Tritão é a maior lua do planeta Netuno. É maior que Plutão e, de fato, devido às propriedades incomuns de sua órbita e pelo que sabemos de sua composição, Tritão pode muito bem ser um planeta anão capturado por Netuno. Tritão tem uma superfície gelada, com gelo de água coberto por uma camada de nitrogênio congelado, em torno de um núcleo predominantemente rochoso. A Voyager 2, até o momento a única sonda espacial a visitar Tritão, descobriu que a lua é geologicamente ativa, com gêiseres que expelem gás nitrogênio e, muito provavelmente, com vulcões de gelo ("criovulcões") - análogos aos vulcões da Terra, mas com água e amônia em vez de rocha liquefeita.

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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval

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Triton is a spherical moon covered in areas of different shades of light grey. Short dark streaks pepper this landscape.

Neptune’s Moon Triton Fosters Rare Icy Union

Caption: An image of Neptune's moon Triton taken by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. This image covers the south pole region of Triton. Triton's surface is covered by an icy mix of frozen nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. Below the surface some of these compounds are thought to be in a liquid state. These liquids can burst out of the surface through geysers. These geysers produce the dark streaks seen in this image.
Credit: NASA/JPL credit link

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