Triton's orbit is associated with two tilts, the inclination of Neptune's spin to Neptune's orbit, 30 °, and the inclination of Triton's orbit to Neptune's spin, 157 ° ( an inclination over 90 ° indicates retrograde motion ).

That inclination is currently 130 °; Triton's orbit is now near its maximum departure from coplanarity with Neptune's.

At the present time, Triton's rotational axis is about 40 ° from Neptune's orbital plane, and hence at some point during Neptune's year each pole points fairly close to the Sun, almost like the poles of Uranus.

Viscoelastic damping from tides alone is not thought to be capable of circularizing Triton's orbit in the time since the origin of the system, and gas drag from a prograde debris disc is likely to have played a substantial role.

As with Pluto, 55 % of Triton's surface is covered with frozen nitrogen, with water ice comprising 15 – 35 % and dry ice ( frozen carbon dioxide ) forming the remaining 10 – 20 %.

Triton's density implies it is probably about 30 – 45 % water ice, with the remainder being rocky material.

Triton's surface area is 23 million km < sup > 2 </ sup >, which is 4. 5 % of Earth, or 15. 5 % of Earth's land area.

Because Triton's surface indicates a long history of melting, models of its interior posit that Triton is differentiated, like Earth, into a solid core, a mantle and a crust.

There is enough rock in Triton's interior for radioactive decay to power convection in the mantle.

The surface temperature is at least () because Triton's nitrogen ice is in the warmer, hexagonal crystalline state, and the phase transition between hexagonal and cubic nitrogen ice occurs at that temperature.

Triton's surface atmospheric pressure is only about ().

Streaks on Triton's surface left by geyser plumes suggest that the troposphere is driven by seasonal winds capable of moving material of over a micrometre in size.

The temperature of Triton's upper atmosphere, at, is higher than that at the surface, due to heat absorbed from solar radiation and Neptune's magnetosphere.

Because Triton's Bond albedo is among the highest within the Solar System, it is sensitive to small variations in spectral albedo.

Recent analysis of crater density and distribution has suggested that in geological terms, Triton's surface is extremely young, with regions varying from 50 million years old to just 6 million years old.

Triton's entire surface is cut by complex valleys and ridges, probably the result of tectonics and icy volcanism.

Although commonly termed " cryovolcanic ", this nitrogen plume activity is distinct from Triton's larger scale cryovolcanic eruptions, as well as volcanic processes on other worlds, which are powered by the internal heat of the body in question.

A haze permeates most of Triton's troposphere, thought to be composed largely of hydrocarbons and nitriles created by the action of sunlight on methane.

Dark streaks across Triton's south polar cap surface, thought to be dust deposits left by eruptions of nitrogen geysers

The ridges and furrows, or sulci, such as Yasu Sulci, Ho Sulci, and Lo Sulci, are thought to be of intermediate age in Triton's geological history, and in many cases to have formed concurrently.

An upper limit in the low 40s ( K ) can be set from vapor pressure equilibrium with nitrogen gas in Triton's atmosphere.

Theories for this warming include a change of frost patterns on Triton's surface and a change in ice albedo, which would allow more heat to be absorbed.

Over time, Triton's class and image came to be associated with a class of mermaid-like creatures, the Tritons ( Τρίτωνες ), which could be male or female, and usually formed the escort of marine divinities.

Proteus, like the other inner satellites of Neptune, is unlikely to be an original body that formed with it, more probably having accreted from the wreak rubble that remained after Triton's capture.

It has a prograde but very eccentric orbit and is believed to be a former regular satellite that was shifted to its current orbit through gravitational interactions during Triton's capture.

The high plains found on Triton's eastern hemisphere, such as Cipango Planum, cover over and blot out older features, and are therefore almost certainly the result of icy lava washing over the previous landscape.

There are extensive ridges and valleys in complex patterns across Triton's surface, probably the result of freeze – thaw cycles.

Pluto, in the nearer part of its orbit, has an atmosphere of nitrogen and methane similar to Triton's, but these gases are frozen when farther from the Sun.

There are long double ridges of ice with central troughs bearing a strong resemblance to Europan lineae ( although they have a larger scale ), and which may have a similar origin, possibly shear heating from strike-slip motion along faults caused by diurnal tidal stresses experienced before Triton's orbit was fully circularized.

A census of Triton's craters imaged by Voyager 2 found only 179 that were incontestably of impact origin, compared with 835 observed for Uranus ' moon Miranda, which has only three percent of Triton's surface area.

However, Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, on which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves.

* The Triton shell also known as " Triton's trumpet " Charonia tritonis which is used as a trumpet in Melanesian and Polynesian culture and also in Korea and Japan.

Most notable is the presence in both novels of the General Information service, although it is more sophisticated in Stars ( one need merely think a question for GI to place the knowledge in one's mind, as opposed to Trouble on Triton's GI which takes questions on machines similar to modern computers ).

Tidal interactions also cause Triton's orbit, already closer to Neptune than the Moon's to Earth, to slowly decay further ; predictions are that some 3. 6 billion years from now, Triton will pass within Neptune's Roche limit.

Unlike other atmospheres, Triton's lacks a stratosphere, and instead has a thermosphere from altitudes of 8 to 950 km, and an exosphere above that.

Triton's atmosphere also possesses clouds of condensed nitrogen that lie between 1 and 3 km from the surface.

In the 1990s, observations from Earth were made of Triton's limb as the moon passed in front of stars.

This indicates that solar heating, although very weak at Triton's great distance from the Sun, plays a crucial role.

The eruption of volatiles from Triton's equator and their deposition at the poles may redistribute enough mass over the course of 10, 000 years to cause polar wander.

Data from the approach of Voyager 2 to Neptune on August 25, 1989, led to a more accurate estimate of Triton's diameter ( 2, 706 km ).

* Sebastian ( from The Little Mermaid ) animatronic and bubble system added to King Triton's float

Jerome Cowan ( of Maltese Falcon fame ) plays Whitney Courtland, Triton's best friend, who becomes wealthy using tips from the now-psychic Triton.