AI overview
Neso is a small moon that orbits Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun. It matters because it is Neptune's most distant known moon, orbiting farther away than any other moon around that planet.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Discovered by
- M. Holman et al. B. Gladman et al.
- Discovery site
- Cerro Tololo Obs.
- Discovery date
- 14 August 2002
- Designation
- Neptune XIII
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ n iː s oʊ /
- Named after
- Νησώ Nēsō
- Alternative names
- S/2002 N 4
- Adjectives
- Nesoan / n ɪ ˈ s oʊ . ə n / or Nesoian / n ɪ ˈ s oʊ . i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 19.96 yr (7,292 days)
- Satellite of
- Neptune
- Group
- Neso group
- Proper semi major axis
- 49,897,800 km (0.333546 AU )
Article
Neso /ˈniːsoʊ/, also known as Neptune XIII, is the second-outermost known natural satellite of Neptune, after S/2021 N 1. It is a retrograde irregular moon discovered by Matthew J. Holman, Brett J. Gladman, et al. on 14 August 2002, though it went unnoticed until 2003. Neso is the second-most distant moon of Neptune, with an average orbital distance of nearly 49.6 million km. At its farthest point of its orbit, the satellite is more than 72 million km from Neptune. This distance exceeds Mercury's aphelion, which is approximately 70 million km from the Sun.
Irregular satellites of Neptune Neso is also the moon with the second-longest orbital period, 26.8 years. It follows a retrograde, highly inclined, and highly eccentric orbit illustrated on the diagram in relation to other irregular satellites of Neptune. The satellites above the horizontal axis are prograde, the satellites beneath it are retrograde. The yellow segments extend from the pericentre to the apocentre, showing the eccentricity.