Explanation: Proteus is the second largest moon of Neptune behind the mysterious Triton. Proteus was discovered only in 1982 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. This is unusual since Neptune has a smaller moon - Nereid - which was discovered 33 years earlier from Earth. The reason Proteus was not discovered sooner is that its surface is very dark and it orbits much closer to Neptune. Proteus has an odd box-like shape and were it even slightly more massive, its own gravity would cause it to reform itself into a sphere.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Neptune's moon - sputniki planet - gravitaciya - Neptun Publikacii so slovami: Neptune's moon - sputniki planet - gravitaciya - Neptun
Sm. takzhe: Neptun noch'yu Okruzhennyi kol'cami ledyanoi gigant Neptun Polumesyacy Neptuna i Tritona Padenie shara v Solnechnoi sisteme Kogda Mars vstrechaetsya s Neptunom Yupiter i sputniki Haron i malen'kie sputniki Plutona Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>