Galatea (moon)
From Free net encyclopedia
- There is also an asteroid called 74 Galatea.
Image:Simulated view of Galatea.jpg Galatea (gal'-ə-tee'-ə, IPA Template:IPA, Greek Γαλατεία), or Neptune VI, is the fourth known moon of Neptune. It is named after Galatea, one of the Nereids of Greek legend.
Galatea was discovered in late July, 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2 probe. It was given the temporary designation S/1989 N 4.
The discovery was announced (IAUC 4824) on August 2, 1989, but the text only talks of "10 frames taken over 5 days", giving a discovery date of sometime before July 28.
It is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geological modification. Since the Galatean orbit is below Neptune's synchronous orbit radius, it is slowly decaying due to tidal forces and will one day break up into a planetary ring or impact Neptune.
- Orbital radius: 61,593 km
- Diameter: 204×184×144 km
- Mass: 3.7Template:E kg
- Estimated density: 1.3 g/cm3
- Orbital period: 0.429 d
- Orbital inclination: 0.065° (to Neptune's equator), 0.062° (to the local Laplace plane), 28.50° (to the ecliptic)
| Image:Neptune symbol.png Neptune (satellites) edit |
|---|
| Naiad | Thalassa | Despina | Galatea | Larissa | Proteus | Triton | Nereid |
| S/2002 N 1 | S/2002 N 2 | S/2002 N 3 | Psamathe | S/2002 N 4 |
| See also: Pronunciation key | Rings of Neptune |
ca:Galatea (satèl·lit) da:Galatea (måne) de:Galatea (Mond) es:Galatea (luna) fr:Galatée (lune) hr:Galateja (mjesec) nl:Galatea (maan) pl:Galatea (księżyc) pt:Galateia (satélite) sk:Galatea (mesiac) fi:Galatea (kuu) zh:海卫六