Ithaca Chasma: The Great Rift on Saturn's Tethys
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Posted on 06/24/2008 2:27:26 PM PDT by sig226
Explanation: What created the Great Rift on Saturn's moon Tethys? No one is sure. More formally named Ithaca Chasma, the long canyon running across the right of the above image extends about 2,000 kilometers long and spreads as much as 100 kilometers wide. The above image was captured by the Saturn-orbiting robotic Cassini spacecraft as it zoomed by the icy moon last month. Hypotheses for the formation of Ithaca Chasma include cracking of Tethy's outer crust as the moon cooled long ago, and that somehow the rift is related to the huge Great Basin impact crater named Odysseus, visible elsewhere on the unusual moon. Cassini has now been orbiting Saturn for about four years and is scheduled to continue to probe and photograph Saturn for at least two more years.
I was hoping for greater revaletions than this.
Ithaca is gorgeous.
Mariana Trench is relatively small compared to geography of other planets and moons like Tethys.
Valles Marineris on Mars is over 4000 kilometers long and up to 4 miles deep, with mountain elevations reaching over 16 miles high.
Spacecraft weren't mentioned either, but they now exist and bring us images never seen from earth.
Yea, I’d say it has something to do with that GIANT crater on the bottom of the picture.
What is that supposed to mean?
I’m surprised your username was available today.
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