Saturn’s moon Enceladus might be a skier’s paradise. High-resolution maps of the sixth-largest moon of the giant ringed planet confirm that wintry conditions prevail on the ice body. Cryovolcanoes at the South Pole shoot large jets of water vapour, volatiles and solid particles (ice crystals, NaCl particles, etc.) into space, totaling approximately 200 kg per second. Some of this falls back onto the moon as “snow” at less than a thousandth of a millimetre per year. To build up roughly 320 feet of the stuff would require a few tens of millions of years or so!
A separate team of researchers previously made models of Enceladus’ plumes and found that some of the ejected particles fall back onto the moon in a distinct pattern. These results were published in 2010, and predicted that the heaviest buildup of icy particles is likely along two lines on opposite sides of the moon.
Schenk and his colleagues created global color maps of Enceladus that confirmed particle accumulation in these regions, which fell in line with the earlier predictions. The mapmaking work provided incentive for the researchers to hunt for physical evidence of this ejected particle buildup on the surface of Enceladus.
The scientists scrutinized the highest resolution images of areas near plume-formation sites. They found that the regions featured unusually smooth terrain against an undulating topography, which suggested that older fractures and craters on the surface were being covered up.
Picture Credit : Google