Galatea (1989N4) (GIF)

Neptune VI - 1989N4

Galatea [gal-eh-TEE-eh] lies 37,200 kilometers (23,100 miles) from Neptune. It has a diameter of 180 kilometers (110 miles) and completes an orbit in 10 hours, 18 minutes. It is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geological modification. Galatea circles the planet in the same direction as Neptune rotates, and remains close to Neptune's equatorial plane. The above image is smeared so that Galatea appears highly elongated.

Galatea Statistics

Discovered by ..................................... Voyager 2
Date of discovery ...................................... 1989

Mass (kg) ................................................. ?
Equatorial radius (km) ................................... 79
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) .................... 1.2386e-02
Mean density (gm/cm^3) .................................... ?

Mean distance from Neptune (km) ...................... 62,000
Rotational period (days) .................................. ?
Orbital period (days) .............................. 0.428745
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) ........................ 10.52

Orbital eccentricity ................................. 0.0001
Orbital inclination .................................... 0.05°

Visual geometric albedo ................................ 0.06
Magnitude (Vo) ......................................... 22.3

Neptune Despina Larissa

Author: Calvin J. Hamilton.