Saturn: Dirty Rings and a Clean Moon
Explanation:
Eating surface ice from Enceladus might be healthier
than eating ice from Saturn's rings -- it certainly appears cleaner.
From their apparent
densities and reflectance properties, both the
rings of Saturn and its shiniest moon,
Enceladus,
are thought to be composed predominantly of
water ice.
For reasons that are not yet understood, however, many of
Saturn's ring particles have become partly coated with some
sort of relatively dark dust, while the surface of
Enceladus appears comparatively bright and clean.
The contrast between the two can be seen in the
above image taken last month by the
robot Cassini spacecraft now in
orbit around
Saturn.
Bright
Enceladus shines
in the background in contrast to the darker foreground rings.
The reason why
Enceladus is so bright is currently
unknown but might involve bringing fresh water to its surface with
water volcanoes.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
