Triton’s fate is doomed

The Forces of Nature by Kelland Terry, Ph.D.

In the normal situation, a satellite rotates around a central body in the same direction as the central body spins on its axis. This is similar to the hula hoop spinning around a rotating waist. The human body and hula hoop are both rotating in the same direction because body and hoop are in physical contact. What would happen if the hoop is acted upon by some mysterious force that caused it to rotate in the opposite direction? Obviously, the hula hoop would quickly come to a rest and fall to the ground because the human waist is spinning in the opposite direction. This is the exact situation we find for Triton, a moon of Neptune.

Neptune is spinning in one direction, and Triton is rotating about the planet in the opposite direction. Perhaps Triton was captured by Neptune, or perhaps its reverse, abnormal rotation was caused by some cataclysmic event. We can’t say how this relationship came about, we only know that at the present time Triton is rotating one direction and Neptune is spinning in the opposite direction.

Triton has a very fast rate of rotation, some 25,765 meters per second, while Neptune is spinning in the opposite direction at 2685 meters per second. Neptune is an extremely large planet, and much like the human body, it is attempting to reverse Triton’s direction of rotation. This is causing Triton to spiral into the planet at a noticeable rate as it loses angular momentum. Triton’s fate is doomed. Kelland—www.vestheory.com