美国加州理工学院研究团队利用詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜发现，海王星内侧的两颗小卫星拉里萨和盖拉提亚以及海王星环上存在富镁硅酸盐粘土矿物1。这是首次在木星以外的外太阳系区域发现硅酸盐矿物1。
研究团队指出，这些粘土矿物的形成需要液态水参与，但这些天体的表面却没有发现水冰的痕迹1。科学家因此推断，这些硅酸盐矿物来自更大冰质天体的深部物质1。值得注意的是，三颗卫星中最大的普罗透斯并未显示相同的硅酸盐特征1。
基于这一观测结果，研究人员提出新的解释：当海王星的大卫星海卫一被海王星俘获时，可能摧毁了海王星原始的卫星系统，这些小卫星就是那次灾难性事件留下的碎片1。研究表明，被摧毁卫星系统的碎片中仅约1%的物质留存在海王星系统内1。参与研究的赖利·戴维斯表示："这是令人兴奋的新证据，证明海王星发生了灾难性事件，完全摧毁了其原始卫星"1。该研究成果已发表于《科学进展》杂志2026年第12卷第31期1。
A research team from Caltech has used observations from the James Webb Space Telescope to identify magnesium-rich silicate clay minerals on Neptune's inner moons Larissa and Galatea, as well as on Neptune's rings.1 This marks the first detection of silicate minerals beyond Jupiter in the outer solar system.1 The presence of these minerals is significant because they require liquid water to form, yet the surfaces of these celestial bodies show no traces of water ice.1
The researchers propose that these silicate minerals originated from the deep interiors of larger icy bodies and represent fragments of Neptune's primordial moon system that was catastrophically destroyed when Triton was captured by the planet.1 Notably, Proteus, the largest of the three moons examined, did not display the same silicate characteristics.1 According to the team's analysis, approximately only one percent of the debris from this ancient collision remained within Neptune's system.1 Ryleigh Davis, a member of the research team, described the findings as "exciting new evidence that Neptune experienced a catastrophic event that completely destroyed its original satellite system."1 The study was published in Science Advances, Volume 12, Issue 31, in 2026.1
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