Triton: The Outer Most Ocean in The Solar System
A new day dawns on Triton. It’s going to be a cold one, much like the last. And the one before that… and every day since the moon settled into its present orbit around Neptune. Even the volcanoes here spew out cold gases and liquid water rather than hot magma. But below the frigid surface, which registers a temperature of -235 °C, there’s something more clement: a liquid ocean.
At first glance, Triton seems to be just another icy moon – a featureless, barren world spinning around Neptune, the outermost planet of our solar system. But Triton is different.
For one thing, it orbits Neptune backwards, moving in the opposite direction to Neptune’s rotation. It’s the only large moon in the solar system to do so. Satellites can’t form in these “retrograde” orbits, so Triton must have begun life elsewhere before being captured by the gas giant. It looks a lot like Pluto, and probably came from the same place – the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt, close to Neptune.
The Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Triton in 1989, sending back images of the moon’s frozen surface. They revealed signs of cryovolcanism – the eruption of subsurface liquids which quickly freeze when exposed to the cold of the outer solar system. As such, Triton joins a short list of worlds in the solar system known to be geologically active.
Its surface ice is unique, too: largely composed of nitrogen, with some cantaloupe-textured terrain, and a polar cap of frozen methane.
(via thescienceofreality)
Here’s a tank Tuesday because I’ve become self conscious about my nips and am not at the level of those who post topless photos.
Also, this is the face of a boy who just enjoyed some green tea ice cream. And finished a chemistry quiz. Yes.
You know, I find this bit adorable. That we have such a clear idea of things they have in common. That we can see they can enjoy their time together. That they have several topics they can talk about. Not only glee club or whatever issue of the day is going on, but politics, plays, movies, tv shows and so forth. Because so many times I watch couples on tv shouting at each other all the time about how much they love each other and then nothing is said or shown after that. And I just wonder if these people even like each other in the quiet non-dramatic times. Because it’s in those times where you usually figure out if you have something that will last you more than a series of fireworks and then an empty sky.
(Source: kurtblaine, via darrenistotallyawesome)
Apparently one of my roommates thinks it’s okay to bring her friend and her friends boyfriend to our apartment to argue. Even when it’s midnight.
Seriously though, are you fucking kidding me?
There’s yelling and crying going on now. But they’re intimidating people…and I try to avoid conflict at all cost.
I mean, I don’t want to sound heartless (although I’m beginning to think I am), but there’s a place for these things. It’s at your own place. Puh-lease.
