New Voyager Map Reveals Unprecedented View of Neptune's Moon, Triton (VIDEO)

Astronomers are getting a better look at Neptune's moon, Triton, than ever before. They've created a color global map of the moon using historic footage from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which first gave scientists a glimpse of the moon in 1989.

When Voyager 2 first imaged Triton, most of the northern hemisphere was in darkness. Because of the speed of Voyager's visit and the slow rotation of Triton, only one hemisphere was seen clearly at a close distance. The rest of the surface was either in darkness or seen as blurry markings.

Yet the new Triton map is revealing unprecedented details. It has a resolution of 1,970 feet per pixel, and the colors have been enhanced to bring out contrast but are a close approximation to Triton's natural colors. In fact, Voyager's "eyes" saw in colors slightly different from human eyes, and this particular map was produced using orange, green and blue filter images.

The researchers improved the map by updating the accuracy of feature locations, sharpening feature details by removing blurring effects from the camera and improving color processing. This should help scientists get a better idea of what the upcoming Pluto encounter should be like. While Pluto is unlikely to be a copy of Triton, it does have some of the same features.

It's likely that tidal heating melted the interior of Triton, producing the volcanoes, fractures and other features seen in the icy surface of the moon. Like Pluto, Triton has very similar internal densities, bulk composition, and has the same low-temperature volatiles frozen on its surface.

Currently, scientists plan to use the New Horizons' Pluto encounter, scheduled for 2015 in July, to learn more about the bodies in our solar system. With the new map of Triton, though, researchers can look toward what features should be examined on this icy body.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of NASA and YouTube.