Atmosphere of Triton by the ground-based observations, is slightly more abundant than methane. The abundance of methane relative to nitrogen increased by four to five times since 1986 due to the seasonal warming observed on Triton, which passed its solstice in 2001. Other possible components of the Triton's atmosphere include argon and neon. Because they were not detected in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum of Triton obtained by Voyager 2 in 1989, their abundances are unlikely to exceed a few percent. In addition to the gases mentioned above, the upper atmosphere contains significant amounts of both molecular and atomic hydrogen, which is
Noble gas compound they are less strongly attracted to the positively charged nucleus. This results in an ionization energy low enough to form stable compounds with the most electronegative elements, fluorine and oxygen, and even with less electronegative elements such as nitrogen and carbon under certain circumstances. When the family of noble gases was first identified at the end of the nineteenth century, none of them was observed to form any compounds and it was initially believed that they were all "inert gases" (as they were then known) which could not form compounds. With the development of atomic theory in the early twentieth