Characteristics Of The Moons Of Saturn

Characteristics of the moons of Saturn

Saturn has 62 natural satellites. Here are some features of some of its moons, with mountains, valleys, and striking marks on their surfaces, often marked by asteroid bombardments causing small, huge craters.

Iapetus - Equatorial ridge

Iapetus’s equatorial ridge was discovered when the Cassini spacecraft imaged Iapetus on 31 December 2004. Peaks in the ridge rise more than 20 km above the surrounding plains, making them some of the tallest mountains in the Solar System. The ridge forms a complex system including isolated peaks, segments of more than 200 km and sections with three near parallel ridges.

Tethys - Odysseus crater

Odysseus is the largest crater on Saturn’s moon Tethys. It is 445 km across, more than 2/5 of the moon’s diameter, and is one of the largest craters in the Solar System.

Tethys - Ithaca Chasma

Ithaca Chasma is a valley (graben) on Saturn’s moon Tethys, named after the island of Ithaca, in Greece. It is up to 100 km wide, 3 to 5 km deep and 2,000 km long, running approximately three-quarters of the way around Tethys’ circumference, making it one of the longer valleys in the Solar System. Ithaca Chasma is approximately concentric with Odysseus crater.

Tethys - Red arcs

Unusual arc-shaped, reddish streaks cut across the surface of Saturn’s ice-rich moon Tethys in this enhanced-color mosaic. The red streaks are narrow, curved lines on the moon’s surface, only a few miles (or kilometers) wide but several hundred miles (or kilometers) long.

Rhea - Inktomi crater

Inktomi, also known as The Splat, is a prominent rayed impact crater 47.2 kilometres (29.3 mi) in diameter located in the southern hemisphere of Saturn’s moon Rhea.

Mimas - Herschel Crater

Herschel is a huge crater in the leading hemisphere of the Saturnian moon Mimas, on the equator at 100° longitude. It is so large that astronomers have expressed surprise that Mimas was not shattered by the impact that caused it. It measures 139 kilometres (86 miles) across, almost one third the diameter of Mimas. If there were a crater of an equivalent scale on Earth it would be over 4,000 km (2,500 mi) in diameter – wider than Canada – with walls over 200 km (120 mi) high.

Enceladus - Surface with fractures

Close up of one of the ‘tiger stripes” or fissures called Baghdad Sulcus. Both heat and occasional geysers issue from this formidable crack. Some of the material coating the landscape may be snow condensed from vapor. This closeup of the surface of Enceladus on November 21, 2009, viewed from approximately 1,260 miles (2,028 kilometers) away.

Dione - Contrasts

This image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows a part of Dione’s surface that is covered by linear, curving features, called chasmata. One possibility is that this stress pattern may be related to Dione’s orbital evolution and the effect of tidal stresses over time. This view looks toward the trailing hemisphere of Dione.

Learn more: Iapetus, Tethys, Rhea, Mimas, Enceladus and Dione.

Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Research

What would aliens think about research? By that, I mean the research of treacherous things, like volcanoes. Humans can send in drones to get samples or survey an environment, but sometimes, and especially in the times when research methods weren’t as advanced as today (or at times of space travel).

For example, Isaac Newton stuck a needle in his eye and poked around to study how humans perceive colors. (He did learn a lot but… eugh.) Sir Humphrey Davy generated chemical reactions and inhaled (potentially dangerous) gaseous products to note what happened. One scientist tried heart catheterization on himself when he couldn’t get approval to try it on a human.

Maybe aliens would think that humans were pretty dumb for doing all that, but it was early on, and these guys have learned better now.

Oh, no. There is currently a lava lake in Antarctica that occasionally spews a fall of fire now and then. Scientists go to that lake, in the freezing cold, with the risk of lava bombs spewing at them, to take measurements and make observations of the area. Sure, there are sensors too, but scientists still go to physically visit the area for data.

Scientists will go into submarines to study the deep ocean, a place with little or no sunlight and strange, possibly dangerous creatures. In addition, the pressure underneath all that water is immense. If a problem happened and the submarine was damaged, results could very easily be fatal.

Speaking of nature, there are scientists who will go into rainforests to meet 9possibly hostile) natives living within, or to learn more about animal behavior. It’s very risky work. There is a constant threat of predator attacks. The plants could kill you if you don’t pay enough attention. You could very easily catch a disease from the wildlife and fall gravely ill.

And what about space travel? Humans stuck themselves on rockets loaded with fuel and tried to get outside of the atmosphere. Sure, they ran tests and simulations, but no one knew for certain if it would really work. Some rockets exploded, killing the astronauts within. It was a very real possibility for anyone in a rocket but humans kept trying anyway.

Sure, humans take every safety precaution they can think of. Sure, they spend lots of time, energy, and resources to keep fellow humans as safe as possible. They still knowingly place themselves in possibly extremely dangerous situations for the sake of science. How strange is that?

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delightfulskywalker

7 years ago

G-DRAGON - ‘무제(無題) (Untitled, 2014)’