                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2026 June 23

                      Flying Past Neptune's Moon Triton
    Image Credit: NASA; JPL, Voyager 2, Digital composition: Paul Schenk
                                 (LPI, USRA)

   Explanation: What would it look like to fly past Triton, the largest
   moon of planet Neptune? Only one spacecraft has ever done this -- and
   the images of this dramatic encounter have been gathered into a video.
   In 1989, the Voyager 2 robotic spacecraft shot through the Neptune
   system with cameras blazing. Triton is slightly smaller than Earth's
   Moon but has ice volcanoes and a surface rich in frozen nitrogen. The
   first sequence in the video shows Voyager's approach to Triton, which,
   with the exception of an overall false green tint, appears in
   approximately true color. The mysterious cantaloupe terrain seen under
   the spacecraft soon changed from light to dark, with the terminator of
   night crossing underneath. After closest approach, Voyager pivoted to
   see the departing moon, now visible as a diminishing crescent. In 2015,
   the robotic New Horizons spacecraft famously flew past Pluto, an orb of
   similar size to Triton.

                  Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

