Webb Data Suggests Triton Destroyed Neptune's Original Moons

NASA's Webb telescope observed seven Neptune moons in near-infrared light. Caltech-led results, reported August 2026, indicate Triton was captured into a retrograde orbit — moving opposite Neptune's rotation — which destabilized the planet's original satellites. Collisions followed, and debris from those impacts reaccreted into the small inner moons seen today. The findings are inferential, drawn from spectral and brightness data, not direct observation.