"Hot spot" found on one of Saturn's moons

Reuters - Science ^ | 2005-08-30 | Gideon Long

[Junior]

LONDON (Reuters) - There is a hot spot on one of Saturn's moons which should not be there and has yet to be explained, scientists said on Tuesday.

It is located at the south pole of Enceladus, a moon with a diameter of just 500 km (310 miles) which orbits Saturn at a distance of around 238,000 km.

The hot spot is unusual because it occurs at the pole, scientists said. Usually, the hottest part of any planet or moon is around the equator, as is the case with the earth.

This suggests that the heat at Enceladus' southern pole is generated from within, said scientists from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and its moons.

But they acknowledged they had no idea how.

"It shouldn't be that warm," said John Spencer, one of the scientists working on the project.

"It's like flying past Antarctica and finding that it's warmer than the earth's equatorial regions. It's that strange."

Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, the United States, is one of a group of scientists examining data sent back to earth from the Cassini spacecraft, which was launched in 1997 to examine Saturn.

The spacecraft has flown past Enceladus three times -- most recently on July 14 when it passed within just 175 km of the small, icy orb.

The scientists expected to find that the temperature was around 80 degrees Kelvin (-193 degrees Celsius, -316 degrees Fahrenheit) at its hottest point, which they assumed would be near the equator.

Instead, they found that the heat was concentrated at the south pole, where the temperature hit 91 degrees Kelvin near a series of fissures, or "tiger stripes" on the moon's surface.

"It is an extremely conspicuous hot region," Spencer told a news conference. "Something is different about that area."

The scientists have come up with two theories to explain the hot spot. The first is that the heat comes from decaying radioactive material below the moon's surface and the second is that it is caused by gravitational tides.

But they say neither theory adequately explains the heat.

"We don't have anything we could call a complete hypothesis yet," said Torrence Johnson from NASA, which is working on the project alongside the European and Italian space agencies.

The team says the hot spot suggests there might be volcanoes and geysers on Enceladus.

If this is true, it would be one of only three "active" moons known to man. The others are Io, which orbits Jupiter, and Triton, which circles Neptune.

The Cassini spacecraft has been sending spectacular images back from Saturn, its rings and its moons since last year, when it reached the planet. It also launched a probe which landed on the surface of Titan, another of Saturn's 31 known moons.

 

[martin_fierro]

A L L   T H E S E   W O R L D S
A R E   Y O U R S   E X C E P T
E U R O P A   E N C E L A D U S
A T T E M P T   N O   L A N D I N G S  T H E R E
U S E   T H E M   T O G E T H E R
U S E   T H E M   I N   P E A C E

[upier]

Yeh, But it's not habitable until it gets a Starbucks or two.

[colorado tanker]

Is there a big black metallic slab embedded on the surface?

[Zuben Elgenubi]

On Enceladus

Credit:	John Whatmough
Image Number:	026
Created:	1997
Available Resolution:	1024x768

On the frozen Saturnian moon Enceladus a water-ice geyser erupts into the sky. Some theories suggest that such geysers feed Saturn's faint E ring.

This image is Copyright © by John Whatmough, all rights reserved.

[martin_fierro]

The hot spot is unusual because it occurs at the pole, scientists said...
This suggests that the heat at Enceladus' southern pole is generated from within

That's pretty much what happens to me when I eat an enceladus. Er, an enchilada.

[from occupied ga]

temperature hit 91 degrees Kelvin

Positively torrid

[fish hawk]

They think it's a moon but it's the Deathstar.

[Red Badger]

I can't land on Enchiladas?...........What about TacoBelladus?.....

[SolidRedState]

Alien vs. Predator

[JIM O]

When I read the headline I thought this would be an article about Bill Clinton spending time on Saturn.

[dangus]

>>"All these worlds are yours...
>>Except Echiladas."

Whatever could cause a hot spot on Enchiladas?

"Believe me... you do NOT want to go in there!"

[dangus]

YOu know what happens when you try to land on the hot spot on Enchiladas, don't you?

YOu get a ring around Ura---
Nahh, I pass on that one.

[dangus]

Um... Should I be slightly disturbed that the aliens on Enceladas appear to hosting a craft fair of some sort?

[Lando Lincoln]

Hot spot? Let's get 'er fixed.

Lando

[Red Badger]

......and you'll RUN for the Border.............!......

[DWar]

"Caused, no doubt, by our failure to ratify the Kyoto Treaty."


Thanks Gumlegs for the GREAT belly laugh!! ROFLMAO!!!

[Rockitz]

Cue "Twilight Zone" theme song......

[wyattearp]

temperature hit 91 degrees Kelvin

"Positively torrid"

-295 degrees Fahrenheit. "We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave.."

[Fierce Allegiance]

Some enchiladas have been know to cause hot spots on Uranus.

[Republicanus_Tyrannus]

Weird thing is they are "ruling out" the idea of radioactivity in the crust. I can't for the life of me understand why they think that it wouldn't explain it. In Africa, there is ample evidence of prior, natural fission "reactor"-type mineral deposits where enough radioactive material had been deposited to sustain a chain reaction. Google "Oklo Gabon Africa" and you'll see. There has also been evidence that one or more of these "natural reactor" sites actually worked as a fast breeder reactor.

Here's a site that describes them: http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml

I don't understand why this couldn't be a mechanism to explain the hot spot.