Editing Triton (moon) (section)

=== Impact craters ===
[[File:PIA01538 Complex Geologic History of Triton.jpg|thumb|Tuonela Planitia (left) and Ruach Planitia (center) are two of Triton's [[cryovolcanic]] "walled plains". The paucity of craters is evidence of extensive, relatively recent, geologic activity.]]
Due to constant erasure and modification by ongoing geological activity, [[impact crater]]s on Triton's surface are relatively rare. A census of Triton's craters imaged by ''Voyager 2'' found only 179 that were incontestably of impact origin, compared with 835 observed for [[Uranus]]'s moon [[Miranda (moon)|Miranda]], which has only three percent of Triton's [[surface area]].<ref name="impact"/> The largest crater observed on Triton thought to have been created by an impact is a {{convert|27|km|mi|adj=mid|sp=us|-diameter}} feature called [[Mazomba (crater)|Mazomba]].<ref name="impact"/><ref name="Ingersoll1990-plumes"/> Although larger craters have been observed, they are generally thought to be volcanic.<ref name="impact"/>

The few impact craters on Triton are almost all concentrated in the leading hemisphere—that facing the direction of the orbital motion—with the majority concentrated around the equator between 30° and 70° longitude,<ref name="impact"/> resulting from material swept up from orbit around Neptune.<ref name="Schenk2007"/> Because it orbits with one side permanently facing the planet, astronomers expect that Triton should have fewer impacts on its trailing hemisphere, due to impacts on the leading hemisphere being more frequent and more violent.<ref name="impact"/> ''Voyager 2'' imaged only 40% of Triton's surface, so this remains uncertain. However, the observed cratering asymmetry exceeds what can be explained based on the impactor populations, and implies a younger surface age for the crater-free regions (≤ 6&nbsp;million years old) than for the cratered regions (≤ 50&nbsp;million years old).<ref name = "Mah2019"/>