orbit around Saturn at a aloofness of about295,000 kilometers(183,000 mi ) , the Sun Myung Moon Tethys is a inhuman , wintry place . The slurred coating of chalk cross the moon , and the sandblasting it commence from the rings of Saturn , means it is one of the most reflective object in the Solar System . This makes it all the more freakish that images taken from the Cassini space vehicle show that its open is not uniformly blank , but hasodd crimson streaksacross it .
“ The reddish electric discharge really popped out when we saw the unexampled images,”saidPaul Schenk of theLunar and Planetary Institutein Houston , who has contributed to the Cassini commission . “ It ’s surprising how broad these feature are . ”
The images , which were taken in April , are the first to show the northern area of Tethys in light . This is because the Saturn system has moved into its northerly hemisphere summertime , illumine the region and allowing scientist to see these odd patterns clearly for the first time .
An raise - vividness mosaic image of Tethys , showing a kitchen range of feature on the surface of the moon . Credit : NASA
take using clear , gullible , infrared radiation and ultraviolet filter , the researchers have combined the range of a function to produce the enhanced color view look in the photograph . What has stimulate these red lines continue a bit of a mystery , made even more intriguing considering only one other of Saturn ’s 62 moons has any celebrated blood-red feature film on its surface . It has been suggested that they could be the termination of chemical substance impurity incorporate within let out ice , the consequence of outgassing from inside the moon , or that they could be linked to crack in the ice that are below the closure of the picture .
“ The cherry arcs must be geologically youthful because they dilute across older feature like impingement craters , but we do n’t know their age in years,”explainedPaul Helfenstein , a Cassini imaging scientist atCornell University . “ If the smirch is only a lean , colored veneer on the icy grease , exposure to the space surround at Tethys ' surface might erase them on relatively short meter scale . ”
Tethys passing behind the ring of Saturn . course credit : NASA
The spacecraft Cassini has been conducting flybys and taking pictures of Saturn and its moons for the last 11 years , and is the first investigation to have ever recruit the planet ’s orbit . During this prison term , it ’s made some unbelievable find , include find oneself seven Modern moons , and even snap the potential geological formation of a new one . The investigator are planning an even closer expression at Tethys ' red arcs later this year to see if they can count on out once and for all what ’s causing the distinctive pattern to work .
