Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus

NASA ^ | April 06, 2014 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Do underground oceans vent through the tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn. Pictured above, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual surface features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size, appears quite dead. Most recently, an analysis of slight gravity deviations has given an independent indication of underground oceans. Such research is particularly interesting since such oceans would be candidates to contain life.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

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[cripplecreek]

One of the more interesting moons in our solar system fer shur.

[Starstruck]

Just a reminder. Mars will be at its closest point to Earth on April 8th. It will be moving from the east (9pm CDT)and across the southern sky the rest of the night.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I guess you’re gonna tell me that no existing technology can get Sheila Jackson-Lee there in time?

[Starstruck]

I guess you’re gonna tell me that no existing technology can get Sheila Jackson-Lee there in time?

Sorry. I would if I could.

[luvbach1]

Wow! That’s sharp!

[beebuster2000]

is the whole thing covered in ice? so those craters are from impact on the ice sheet?

[EricT.]

I like cheese Enceladus...

[dayglored]

If I had food handy I would throw it at you for that.

[Verginius Rufus]

Mars unimaginatively rises in the east and sets in the west, like the sun, moon, planets, and stars, just as it did before Jan. 20, 2009. So much for Obama's promise of change.

Curiously enough, on Mars the Martian moon Phobos would appear to rise in the west and set in the east, because its orbit around the planet is less than one Martian day.

Both of Mars' moons were discovered by an American, Asaph Hall, and I believe the discovery was made from what was later Cheney's house.

[Pilgrim's Progress]

Just proves that Heaven is filled with Tigers fans . . . in fact the whole outline kind of looks like the old English D.

[BenLurkin]

Bump!

[SunkenCiv]

I salsa this one through a telescope once.

[SunkenCiv]

Those are some nice impact craters; notice how the rims look a little vague? That may be due to the shifty nature of the icy surface.

http://129.164.179.22/apod/image/1404/enceladusstripes_cassini_3237.jpg

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks! I’m going to link back to your post in a minute.

[SunkenCiv]

Now I want to hear “Skating Away”.

[Starstruck]

Also have a Full Blood Moon eclipse coming up on the night of April 14-15.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Closest approach is the 14th.