Galatea (moon)
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| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Stephen P. Synnott |
| Discovered in | July 1989 |
| Orbital characteristics | |
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| Semi-major axis | 61 953 ± 1 km |
| Eccentricity | 0.00004 ± 0.00009 |
| Orbital period | 0.42874431 ± 0.00000001 d |
| Inclination | 0.052 ± 0.011° (to Neptune equator) 0.06° (to local Laplace plane) |
| Is a moon of | Neptune |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 204×184×144 km (±~10 km) |
| Mass | 2.12 ± 0.08 ×1018 kg |
| Mean density | 0.75 ± 0.1 g/cm3 |
| Rotation period | assumed synchronous |
| Axial tilt | ~zero presumably |
| Albedo (geometric) | 0.08 |
| Surface temp. | ~51 K mean (estimate) |
| Atmosphere | none |
- There is also an asteroid called 74 Galatea.
Galatea or Neptune VI, is the fourth closest moon to Neptune. It is named after Galatea, one of the Nereids of Greek legend.
Galatea was found in late July, 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2 probe. It was given the designation S/1989 N 4. The discovery was said (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. The name was given on 16 September 1991.
It is not a sphere and shows no sign of any geological changes.
[change] See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
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| Moons | Naiad · Thalassa · Despina · Galatea · Larissa · Proteus · Triton · Nereid · Halimede · Sao · Laomedeia · Psamathe · Neso |  |
| Characteristics | Rings of Neptune · Great Dark Spot | |
| Discovery | John Couch Adams · Johann Gottfried Galle · William Lassell · Urbain Le Verrier | |
| Exploration | Voyager program · Voyager 2 | |
| Neptune Trojans | 2001 QR322 · 2004 UP10 · 2005 TN53 · 2005 TO74 · 2006 RJ103 · 2007 RW10 | |
