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Saturn's Moon Has Unusual Red Lines on Its Surface
Recently obtained images of Tethys, one of Saturn's icy moons, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, have revealed to scientists the presence of several "unusual red arc-shaped stripes" on its surface.
The official website of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) comments on this discovery:
"Green, infrared, and ultraviolet filters were used to obtain clear color images of the moon and to reveal features of its surface that are not visible to the naked human eye."
"Some of the images show red arc-shaped stripes that Cassini noticed during its space mission in orbit around Saturn, where it has been since 2004. However, it was not until April of this year, when Tethys' northern hemisphere was under the right lighting, which allowed these unusual red lines to stand out very clearly, that we were able to obtain clearer color images. As summer finally began in Saturn’s northern hemisphere over the past few years, the northern regions of the planet are much brighter than before.'
'When we first saw the images, we immediately noticed the red arc-shaped lines,' says Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, who works with the Cassini project.
'It’s amazing how pronounced these lines are!'
The origin of the lines, as well as the reason for their bright red color, remain a mystery to Cassini scientists. There are only a few suggestions and ideas that could explain this unusual phenomenon. Perhaps the red lines are the result of ice mixing with some chemical components. According to another version, they are the result of outgassing of the satellite. Or perhaps these are surface fractures.
With the exception of a few small craters on the surface of another Saturnian moon, Dione, red lines are quite rare on other Saturnian moons. However, such lines are quite common on the geologically young surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
"The red arcs must be relatively recent, because they also occur along older geological features like impact craters. But we can't yet determine their exact age," says Paul Helfenstein, a Cassini imaging specialist at Cornell University. "If these lines are not physically deep in Tethys, they could be erased relatively quickly by the environment."
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2 минуты
22 августа 2024