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Proteus (proe'-tee-us, Greek Πρωτέας) is one of Neptune's moons. It is named after Proteus, the shape-changing sea god in Greek mythology. It is also designated Neptune VIII.
Discovery Proteus was first discovered by Harold J. Reitsema, William B. Hubbard, Larry A. Lebofsky and David J. Tholen based on ground-based stellar occultation observations on May 24, 1981, and given the temporary designation S/1981 N 1 (IAUC 3608). The moon was not recovered until the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989 when it received the designation S/1989 N 1. Stephen P. Synnott and Bradford A. Smith announced (IAUC 4806) its recovery on July 7, 1989, speaking only of « 17 frames taken over 21 days », which gives a discovery date of sometime before June 16. Physical characteristics Proteus is more than 400 kilometres in diameter, larger than Neptune's moon Nereid. However, it was not discovered by Earth-based telescopes because it is so close to the planet that it is lost in the glare of reflected sunlight. Proteus is one of the darkest objects in the solar system, as dark as soot; like Saturn's moon Phoebe, it reflects only 6 percent of the sunlight that strikes it. Proteus is very cratered showing no sign of any geological modification. It is also irregularly shaped; scientists believe Proteus is about as large as a body of its density can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity.
A simulated view of Proteus orbiting Neptune See also List of craters on Proteus Links Neptune's natural satellites
Naiad | Thalassa | Despina | Galatea | Larissa | Proteus | Triton | Nereid S/2002 N 1 | S/2002 N 2 | S/2002 N 3 | S/2003 N 1 | S/2002 N 4 see also: The Solar System Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/" All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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