Triton orbits Neptune opposite the planet’s rotation.

Space feed

A full-disc mosaic of Triton
Space

Backward orbit

Triton orbits Neptune opposite the planet’s rotation.

Triton circles Neptune in the opposite direction to the planet's rotation. This backward orbit is a major clue that Neptune captured its largest moon rather than forming it nearby.

More like this

Venus from Mariner 10
Space

243 days

A rotation on Venus takes longer than its entire year.

Venus takes about 243 Earth days to rotate relative to the stars, longer than its 225-day year. Its solar day, measured from one sunrise to the next, is shorter: about 117 Earth days.

Moving heart of the Crab Nebula
Space

1B tons

A teaspoon of neutron star would weigh about a billion tons.

A teaspoon-sized volume at neutron-star densities can have a mass of roughly a billion tons. This is a density comparison, not a suggestion that stable spoonfuls could be brought to Earth.

Loading more facts...