![]() ![]() “Since it is thanks to these fissures that we have been able to sample and study Enceladus’ subsurface ocean, which is beloved by astrobiologists, we thought it was important to understand the forces that formed and sustained them,” Hemingway said. A larger moon would have stronger gravity to prevent cracks from forming. The researchers also determined that the tiger stripes are unique to Enceladus because they only could have formed there. “That caused the ice sheet to flex just enough to set off a parallel crack about 35 kilometers away.” “Our model explains the regular spacing of the cracks,” Rudolph said. The researchers used their model to determine that Saturn’s tidal forces cause the internal ocean to remain incredibly active, which generates heat through energy and won’t allow the cracks to seal.Ĭould life exist on Saturn's moon Enceladus?Īfter the first crack formed and didn’t freeze, the plumes rising up through it allowed new, parallel cracks to form. This implies that any cracks in the ice would immediately freeze shut – but the cracks at the south pole creating the tiger stripes remain open and reach the subsurface ocean. Saturn has 82 moons.Ĭooling can cause the liquid water beneath the moon’s ice shell to freeze and expand, causing the ice shell to crack.Įnceladus is already a cold place in our solar system with an average surface temperature of negative 328 degrees Fahrenheit. The tiny moon has an eccentric orbit that brings it closer than usual to Saturn at times but also pushes it out further from Saturn than the other moons as well. Enceladus feels those forces especially at its poles, stretching the icy shell thin. Organic compounds have been found on Saturn's moon EnceladusĮnceladus is Saturn’s sixth largest moon and its tides are at the mercy of the gas giant’s gravity. New ocean world discoveries from Cassini and Hubble will help inform future exploration and the broader search for life beyond Earth. This illustration shows Cassini diving through the Enceladus plume in 2015. “We want to know why the eruptions are located at the south pole as opposed to some other place on Enceladus, how these eruptions can be sustained over long periods of time and finally why these eruptions are emanating from regularly spaced cracks,” said Max Rudolph, study author and assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Davis. Researchers wanted to understand the activity they were observing and used numerical modeling in an attempt explain the stripes and plume activity. No other icy planets or moons have anything quite like them.” ![]() What makes them especially interesting is that they are continually erupting with water ice, even as we speak. “They are parallel and evenly spaced, about 130 kilometers long and 35 kilometers apart. “First seen by the Cassini mission to Saturn, these stripes are like nothing else known in our solar system,” said Doug Hemingway, study author at the Carnegie Institution for Science. The cracks are named for cities referenced in the folk tale “One Thousand and One Nights.” The stripes are large cracks that allow jets of water to shoot up through the icy shell, creating plumes that have intrigued scientists since the Cassini mission flew through them in 2015.Ī new study analyzing the tiger stripes published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. Scientists believe the icy water world could be another potential spot for life in our solar system.Īnd along the south pole, four “tiger stripes” can be seen. The tiny moon, only about 300 miles across, contains a rocky core and global subsurface ocean beneath an icy shell. Saturn’s moon Enceladus is an intriguing oddity. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |