Physical Characteristics
Nereus has been imaged by radar, revealing a slightly elongated shape which would allow for stable orbits around it. Earlier optical measurements had given an estimated diameter of about 330 ± 50 meters. More recent work on the analysis of the radar data gives a much more detailed shape for Nereus as well as a fairly detailed terrain map of the surface.
Nereus has a generally ellipsoidal shape with dimensions of 510 x 330 x 241 m. On the ends of its longest axis, one end appears narrower and rounder than the other, larger end, making it more of an egg shape. The larger end also appears to have a flatter region on one side of it. Nereus rotates about an axis roughly perpendicular to its longest axis much like an egg spinning on a table.
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“For pain is perhaps but a violent pleasure? Who could determine the point where pleasure becomes pain, where pain is still a pleasure? Is not the utmost brightness of the ideal world soothing to us, while the lightest shadows of the physical world annoy?”
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