Recently acquired images of Tethys , one of the ice moons of Saturn , have establish scientists their best scene yet of several “ strange , arc - shaped blood-red streaks ” that sweep across the satellite ’s airfoil .
Via JPL :
Images taken using clear , green , infrared frequency and ultraviolet spectral filter were compound to create the enhanced - colouring material views , which highlight subtle color differences across the wintry moon ’s surface at wavelengths not visible to human eyes .
A few of the red arcs can be seen faintly in observation made to begin with in the Cassini mission , which has been in orbit at Saturn since 2004 . But the color epitome for this reflection , obtained in April 2015 , are the first to show gravid northerly areas of Tethys under the illumination and viewing condition necessary to see the arcs understandably . As the Saturn system affect into its northern hemisphere summer over the preceding few years , northern line of latitude have become more and more well illuminated . As a result , the arcs have become clearly seeable for the first time .
“ The red arcs really bulge out when we watch the unexampled images , ” said Cassini take part scientist Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston . “ It ’s surprising how across-the-board these features are . ”
The origin of the features and their scarlet color is a mystery to Cassini scientists . Possibilities being canvas include ideas that the reddish material is exposed chicken feed with chemical impurities , or the outcome of outgassing from inside Tethys . They could also be connect with feature article like fractures that are below the firmness of the useable images .
Except for a few small Crater on Saturn ’s moon Dione , reddish - tinted feature are rare on other Moon of Saturn . Many ruby-red feature do occur , however , on the geologically young surface of Jupiter ’s lunar month Europa .
“ The red arcs must be geologically young because they cut across sometime features like encroachment craters , but we do n’t know their age in years . ” said Paul Helfenstein , a Cassini imaging scientist at Cornell University , Ithaca , New York , who helped plan the observations . “ If the stain is only a slight , colored veneering on the frigid soil , vulnerability to the infinite environment at genus Tethus ’ Earth’s surface might delete them on comparatively short time scales . ”
Read more about the electric arc , and about the Cassini spacecraft ’s late images of Tethys , at JPL .
get through the author at[email protect ] .
astrogeologyAstronomymoonsSaturnSpace
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