StarMariner.net Nereid Main

Mathematical datum for Nereid

The following results are not based on any evidence,
but are here to illustrate what I feel are best fit
values for Nereid. My findings are based upon
correcting uncertainties from reference values I
have acquired from the internet and books.

I have created a hierarchy starting at the top of the
list with globally accepted values, where uncertainty
in the value is the least, from a series of sampled
results. The parameters lower down the list have a
much greater uncertainty or are estimated by
computation using my Nereid comparator program.

Effective Temperatures.
Neptune as a source with equatorial radius 24764km and effective temperature of 59K:

With no Albedo :
Tp Nearest 5.63K or -267C Tp Farthest 2.11K or -271C
With Albedo of 0.2:
Tp Nearest 6.29K or -267C Tp Farthest 2.78K or -270C

Sun as a source with equatorial radius 700,000km and effective temperature of 6000K:

With no Albedo :
Tp Nearest 52.95K or -220C Tp Farthest 52.89K or -220C
With Albedo of 0.2:
Tp Nearest 53.62K or -219C Tp Farthest 53.56K or -219C

*polar method.
The computations here are not based on any known theorem except the one I made up.
Method: Using Neptunes centre as the datum, the sum of the distances to Nereids orbit from 0 to 359 degrees are
accumulated. The resultant is then divided by the number of samples . Why do the results differ to that expected?
Because they are wrong? If the area of the elliptical orbit is integrated there would be errors where linear lines meet a
non linear edge. In my method there are wider gaps due to angular displacement between samples. However I believe
this is a much more scalar method of finding a distance from point to point.

I enhanced data from the Viking 2 mission, using Paint Shop Pro 9 . a sequence of 169 images where
inverted , then contrast and brightness changed so that , what I assume, to be Nereid is exposed as a dark
image on a white background, this made it easy to find . I then cropped each sequenceial image to the
same region around nereid. I then inverted again and done some more contrast and brightness changes,
also some digital camera noise removal.

In the process I think I have discovered another satellite , one that is going around Nereid, in each of the
5 enhanced images below, you can see another body about 1.5x the radius of nereid, from nereids centre.
I rotated 2 images to show this . It may just be a digital error or background star, but wouldnt that be nice
if the moon had a moon. If it is another body It may justify the theory of Nereid being knocked out of
orbit, or my exagerated theory that parts of Nereid have broken away and now floating around Nereid, like
ice blocks would if broken from a glacier.

Would like to make an orbital fit
yourself ?

Your welcome to try my Nereid
Comparator. See the Creations
page on this website. The
program, is a, what you see is
what you get, just play around
with the values. You may get
software exceptions if some
values are to extreme.
The program was rushed even
though it took over 4 weeks to
get to this stage. There is no
help file either. If enough people
become interested I may decide
to expand it, making a more
useful orbital and planetary
calculation program.

Conclusion:
New calculations for Temperature and gravity have enabled me to visualise the harsh environment of Nereid ,
almost anything can escape the gravity, but almost nothing can escape due to the sever cold . From the
escape velocity and temperature I imagine Nereid is a very dense object and would like to think that it is a
comet waiting to be born or has been captured.

Thoughts:
From this I would like to see calculations of a possible closest approach to pluto from nereid, when pluto passes into
Neptunes path on its closet approach to the Sun.

Some of my results seem wildy out compared to the reference values . I believe this is due to corrections made over time
and the slightly different methods used to obtain results. I have shown above where computations on PC where made,
some of these values are rounded or have high real values of >64 bit floating point accuracy, far to much for a 3 decimal
place result.
Without the source knowledge and data I cannot begin to give accurate results, which would be nice. I have left enough
room in the results for uncertainty and have proved to myself that Nereid requires more research than I can afford time
too, but still holds mysteries that physics and maths can't show me through numbers alone.

1. Semi major axis (km)
2. AU
3. AU (x106 km )
4. Orbital inclination (degree)
5. Orbital eccentricity
6. Sideral Period (days)
7. Nearest to Neptune (km)
8. Farthest From Neptune (km)
9. Mean Distance from Planet (km) .
10.Density

Based on references
Calculated from 1 above.
Calculated from 2 above.
Based on references
Adjusted to fit reference 7 below .
Result of change in e, 5 above.
Based on references
Calculated from 1,5,7 above
Computed using * polar method.
Due to variant temperature and distance.

1.	Orbital Velocity Nearest to Neptune	2.967km/s	Computed
2.	Orbital Velocity Farthest to Neptune	0.418km/s	Computed
3.	Gravity nearest to Neptune	0.00369N	Computed
4.	Gravity farthest to Neptune	0.00007N	Computed
5.	GM	2.0685 km³/s²:	Computed
6.	Albedo	0.2	Highest from references
7.	Radius	170.00 km	From references
8.	Spherical Surface Area	363168 km²	Calculated
9.	Spherical Volume	20579526 km³	Calculated
10.	Escape Velocity for Nereid	0.1560 Km/s	Calculated
10.	Mass	3.1x1019 Kg	Adjusted to fit GM Value of 2.06
10.	Effective Temperature	53.62K to 2.11K or -219C to -271C	Based on computations