A new study based on data from the James Webb telescope suggests that Nereid, Neptune's strange moon, did not come from the Kuiper Belt, but was born in the Neptunian system. According to researchers, it survived a chaotic encounter with a Pluto-sized object that pulverized its siblings and launched it into its current elongated orbit.
The impact that rewrote the history of Neptunian moons 🌌
Scientists used orbital models and James Webb observations to analyze Nereid's trajectory. They found that its eccentric orbit is compatible with a local origin, not an external capture. The main hypothesis points to a massive impact: a Pluto-sized object disrupted the system, ejecting or destroying the original moons while Nereid was trapped in an unstable 360-day orbit.
A moon with bad luck (and worse neighbors) 😅
Poor Nereid: first it gets launched into an elongated orbit like a stone from a sling, and on top of that, it's left without any sisters to play with. Meanwhile, astronomers debate whether it's a survivor or an intruder. What is clear is that if moons could talk, Nereid would ask for a change of neighborhood. Or at least insurance against planetary impacts.