Trident, a NASA low cost mission to Triton Options

[antipode]

Interesting, thanks Phil. Would be nice to have a dynamically 'hot' target, but beggars cant be choosers.

P

[Webscientist]

Here is a simulated view of Neptune from the surface of Triton. I produced it in 2020 for an article upon the Trident project in the journal of my astronomy club:

We will compare to reality in a few decades !

(The apparent size of Neptune is well respected in the simulated view from my "smartphone": it would represent a disk whose apparent diameter is about 8 arc degrees or 15 times the apparent diameter of the Moon as seen from the Earth).

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[JRehling]

That's a powerful image! Triton would be getting a lot of missions if it weren't for the travel time, and an image like that can do a lot to bring Triton forward in people's minds.

I'm not sure what color the skies are on Triton, but Neptune would contribute powerfully.

[Webscientist]

Thanks,
A way for me to explore in advance that mystical world that may turn out to be more exotic than expected in fact.
I often try to imagine the type of horizon we would get from the surface of Pluto or Triton since the atmosphere of Triton is so thin ( slightly denser than Pluto's atmosphere at "sea level").
I imagined a dull sky and a darker sky toward the zenith. Intuitive logic I would say!
For the appearance of the soil, it is quite speculative I would say because we only have one image of the surface of a planetary body of the outer solar system.

[titanicrivers]

Fascinating image Webscientist! The foreground is what I imagined the 'cantaloupe' Triton surface might appear close up. Agree with JRehling such images and others https://www.google.com/search?q=neptune+fro...50&biw=1536 would inspire more interest in outer solar system exploration.

[Webscientist]

The foreground is what I imagined the 'cantaloupe' Triton surface might appear close up.

Thanks again,
For the cantaloupe, I used some "ingredients" not related to the cantaloupe terrain Voyager 2 had observed, without the purpose of producing those cantaloupe structures but the outcome reveals small scale-cantaloupes. Satisfied!
It also reminds me of the distorted surface the Phoenix lander had observed on Mars.
Let's hope we'll get higher resolution images of those cantaloupe terrains in the near future!

[Station]

Here goes my rendition about lander (in this case I "borrowed" Viking ) on the surface of Triton. Few liquid nitrogen geysers on the far horizon... thin, barely visible atmosphere.

[Marcin600]

...Few liquid nitrogen geysers on the far horizon...

Are the visible geyser plumes on Triton really composed of liquid nitrogen or are they nitrogen crystals (with some darker impurities)?

[scalbers]

Station's rendition seems consistent with small optical thickness of Triton's atmosphere, though it might be slightly more visible. Looking near the horizon it should look brighter especially in the direction of the sun.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi....1029/92JE00945

The size of the haze particles suggests a bluish color of preferential scattering due to the Angstrom exponent effect. Any methane gas absorption, or absorption by the haze particles could modify this color.

[Webscientist]

Thanks Station for your nice art work. The crescent of the giant planet (whose appearance constantly evolves) from the surface of Triton must be breathtaking.
The Sun located at 30 Astronomical Units must appear as a really bright star even if its apparent diameter is only 1/30 the apparent diameter of the Moon from the Earth. I remember the simulator "Pluto Day" to represent the luminosity on the surface of Pluto. Undoubtedly, on Triton, it is not the complete darkness at mid-day!
The apparent diameter of Neptune would be around 480 times the apparent diameter of the Sun!

[Station]

Fantasy continues

This time I created something based on the uranian system. I titled it "Lost on Miranda"

[titanicrivers]

Possibly, that explorer is close to Verona Rupes (the tallest cliff in the solar system!). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona_Rupes

[Phil Stooke]

Often misrepresented! That cliff is a talus deposit at the angle of repose. If you jumped off it you would slide down it, not fall through space until you hit the bottom. My evidence? - the full image or a mosaic of images from this sequence shows where the horizon would be just beyond the terminator. It's not perpendicular to the cliff. Bring skis, not airbags.

Phil

[titanicrivers]

Thanks Phil. Should have searched UMSF first to find your abstract https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc1991/pdf/1667.pdf from LPSC XXII. Maybe should be an addendum to the Wikipedia article.

[JohnVV]

the renderings got me thinking , so...

a crop from Voyager image of Triton


using Shape from Shade a height map is created
-- i used a 32 bit tiff image


and a quick work in progress rendering of near the surface in blender


the hills are a bit pronounced