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

NASA ^ | 25 Aug, 2024 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, SSI, Cassini Imaging Team

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: Do underground oceans vent through canyons 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 that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, 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. An analysis of ejected ice grains has yielded evidence that complex organic molecules exist inside Enceladus. These large carbon-rich molecules bolster -- but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus' surface could contain life.

[telescope115]

Two of Jupiter’s moons, Enceladus and Io- A song of Ice and Fire?

[Telepathic Intruder]

“Moon” isn’t so much a name as it is a convenient way of referring to it. For example, if you live next to Lake Shasta you might just refer to it as “the lake” out of convenience of not having to refer to its proper name all the time. Its actual name varies: Luna in ancient Rome or Selene in ancient Greece.

[Carl Vehse]

"An analysis of ejected ice grains has yielded evidence that complex organic molecules exist inside Enceladus. These large carbon-rich molecules bolster -- but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus' surface could contain life."

Enceladan flatulence.

[Candor7]

I had no idea that Saturn is related to enchiladas.

Do you suppose it has to do with aliens eating chimichangas?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I like them both! :)

[null and void]

I am continuing my quest to get Earth’s moon officially named, ‘Luna.’

Give it up, that's lunacy

[Chode]

beautiful... false color?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

LOL! You have time to be ‘Pun-y?’ Don’t you have to Bring Out Your Dead? ;)

[null and void]

The dead are ⅔ of a pun: P.U.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

LOL! :)

[Nateman]

If these moons with hidden oceans harbor life it likely means the universe is chuck full of possible living places.

[alexander_busek]

Or Mesyats (Russian)?

That is NOT the Russian word for "Moon."

Rather, "mesyats" is the Russian word for "month" (etymology: derived from the name of a Slavic goddess).

The Russian word for "Moon" is "Luna."

Regards,

[Verginius Rufus]

OK. I had checked an old Russian-English dictionary (published 1957) and it had both meaning for mesyats. But it also has luna for "moon."

In Serbian and Croatian the word mjesec means both "moon" and "month." (Mesec in some dialects.) Czech is the same--same word for "moon" and "month." But Bulgarian is like Russian. Polish also has different words--the word for "month" is cognate with the Russian/Serbian/Croatian/Bulgarian/Czech word for "month" but the word for "moon" is different (but not "luna").

So did the Russians and Bulgarians take their word for "moon" from Latin?

[SunkenCiv]

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