Putting the planets where they are tonight…

Every planet, moon, dwarf planet and spacecraft here is drawn where it really is right now, worked out from NASA JPL orbit data. Run time forwards or backwards with the bar at the bottom.

The Sun and planets

  • Sun
  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth
  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Uranus
  • Neptune

Dwarf planets

  • Ceres
  • Pluto
  • Haumea
  • Makemake
  • Eris

Moons

  • Moon
  • Phobos
  • Deimos
  • Io
  • Europa
  • Ganymede
  • Callisto
  • Mimas
  • Enceladus
  • Tethys
  • Dione
  • Rhea
  • Titan
  • Iapetus
  • Miranda
  • Ariel
  • Umbriel
  • Titania
  • Oberon
  • Triton
  • Charon

Belts

  • Asteroid Belt
  • Kuiper Belt

Spacecraft

  • Voyager 1
  • Voyager 2
  • New Horizons
  • Pioneer 10
  • Pioneer 11

Fall inside

  • Inside the Sun
  • Inside Mercury
  • Inside Venus
  • Inside Earth
  • Inside Mars
  • Inside Jupiter
  • Inside Saturn
  • Inside Uranus
  • Inside Neptune
  • Inside the Moon
  • Inside Europa
  • Inside Titan
Right now · live
A moon of Neptune ↑

Triton

A captured world going the wrong way round Neptune.

Triton goes round Neptune the wrong way, opposite to Neptune's spin. No other big moon does that.

That means it almost certainly didn't form there. Scientists think Triton was a dwarf planet from the Kuiper Belt that Neptune captured.

When Voyager 2 flew past in 1989, it saw geysers shooting dark plumes 8 km high, and measured −235 °C, the coldest surface ever recorded.

Triton is slowly spiralling in. In billions of years Neptune will tear it apart, and it may become a ring.

If you stood here

The coldest ground ever measured, under a black sky with a big blue Neptune. Patches of the surface look like the skin of a cantaloupe.

The numbers

Width
2,707 km
Goes round Neptune
every 5.9 days
One day
The same: it always shows Neptune one face
Temperature
−235 °C
70 kg on Earth weighs
6 kg here
Quick answers+

How big is Triton?

Triton is 2,707 km wide, about 21% of Earth's width.

How long does Triton take to go round Neptune?

Triton goes once round Neptune every 5.9 days. It spins once in the same time, so it always shows Neptune the same face.

How hot or cold is Triton?

−235 °C.

What is the gravity like on Triton?

Gravity is 0.779 m/s², 8% of Earth's. Someone who weighs 70 kg on Earth would weigh 6 kg there.