|
Larissa ("la RISS a") is the fifth of Neptune's known moons. It was discovered by Harold Reitsema based on ground-based stellar occultation observations, and was photographed by Voyager 2 in 1989. Larissa is irregular (non-spherical) in shape and appears to be heavily cratered, with no sign of any geological modification. Little else is known about it. Since its orbit is below Neptune's synchronous orbit radius it is slowly decaying due to tidal forces and will one day break up into a planetary ring or impact on Neptune's surface.
- Orbital radius: 73,548 km
- Radius: 108 x 102 x 84 km
- Mass: 4.9×1018 kg
- Estimated density: 1.3 g/cm3
- Orbital period: 0.555 days
- Orbital inclination: 0.205°
Larissa is also an asteroid, 1162 Larissa (and there is also the paronymous 302 Clarissa).
|
