by neufer » Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:48 pm
Boomer12k wrote:
I thought Saturn's Rings were cause by Ice Geysers from Enceladus....
and here it says Tethys is also covered by ice from Enceledus...
if this were a Murder Mystery...I think we have a suspect....who has "A Prior"....
- Enceledus is only responsible for the distant diffuse E Ring:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_%28moon%29 wrote:
<<The E Ring is the widest and outermost ring of Saturn. It is an extremely wide but very diffuse disk of microscopic icy or dusty material, beginning at the orbit of Mimas and ending somewhere around the orbit of Rhea, though some observations suggest that it extends beyond the orbit of Titan, making it 1,000,000 km wide. However, numerous mathematical models show that such a ring is unstable, with a lifespan between 10,000 and 1,000,000 years. Therefore, particles composing it must be constantly replenished. Enceladus is orbiting inside this ring, in a place where it is narrowest but present in its highest density. Therefore, several theories suspected Enceladus to be the main source of particles for the E Ring. This hypothesis was supported by Cassini's flyby.
There are actually two distinct mechanisms feeding the ring with particles. The first, and probably the most important, source of particles comes from the cryovolcanic plume in the South polar region of Enceladus. While a majority of particles fall back to the surface, some of them escape Enceladus's gravity and enter orbit around Saturn, since Enceladus's escape velocity is only 866 km/h. The second mechanism comes from meteoric bombardment of Enceladus, raising dust particles from the surface. This mechanism is not unique to Enceladus, but is valid for all Saturn's moons orbiting inside the E Ring.>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn wrote:
<<The rings of Saturn are the most extensive planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometres to metres, that form clumps that in turn orbit about Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with some contamination from dust and other chemicals. The origin of them is pretty much a complete mystery. The total mass of the rings is about 3 x 10
19 kg [vs. Enceledus = 10.8 × 10
19 kg ]. There have been recent claims, yet unverified, that this is an underestimate due to clumping in the rings and the mass may be three times this figure.
In December 2010, National Geographic suggested that the rings of Saturn could be the remains of a giant lost moon that was stripped of its icy shell before it crashed into the planet.
Data from the Cassini space probe indicate that the rings of Saturn possess their own atmosphere, independent of that of the planet itself. The atmosphere is composed of molecular oxygen gas (O
2) produced when ultraviolet light from the Sun interacts with water ice in the rings. Chemical reactions between water molecule fragments and further ultraviolet stimulation create and eject, among other things, O
2. According to models of this atmosphere, H
2 is also present. The O
2 and H
2 atmospheres are so sparse that if the entire atmosphere were somehow condensed onto the rings, it would be about one atom thick. The rings also have a similarly sparse OH (hydroxide) atmosphere.
Like the O2, this atmosphere is produced by the disintegration of water molecules, though in this case the disintegration is done by energetic ions that bombard water molecules ejected by Saturn's moon Enceladus. This atmosphere, despite being extremely sparse, was detected from Earth by the Hubble Space Telescope>>
[quote="Boomer12k"]
I thought Saturn's Rings were cause by Ice Geysers from Enceladus....
and here it says Tethys is also covered by ice from Enceledus...
if this were a Murder Mystery...I think we have a suspect....who has "A Prior"....[/quote]
[list]Enceledus is only responsible for the distant diffuse E Ring:[/list]
[quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_%28moon%29"]
[float=right][img3="[b][color=#0000FF]Enceladus orbiting within Saturn's E ring[/color][/b]"]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/E_ring_with_Enceladus.jpg/640px-E_ring_with_Enceladus.jpg[/img3][/float]
<<The E Ring is the widest and outermost ring of Saturn. It is an extremely wide but very diffuse disk of microscopic icy or dusty material, beginning at the orbit of Mimas and ending somewhere around the orbit of Rhea, though some observations suggest that it extends beyond the orbit of Titan, making it 1,000,000 km wide. However, numerous mathematical models show that such a ring is unstable, with a lifespan between 10,000 and 1,000,000 years. Therefore, particles composing it must be constantly replenished. Enceladus is orbiting inside this ring, in a place where it is narrowest but present in its highest density. Therefore, several theories suspected Enceladus to be the main source of particles for the E Ring. This hypothesis was supported by Cassini's flyby.
There are actually two distinct mechanisms feeding the ring with particles. The first, and probably the most important, source of particles comes from the cryovolcanic plume in the South polar region of Enceladus. While a majority of particles fall back to the surface, some of them escape Enceladus's gravity and enter orbit around Saturn, since Enceladus's escape velocity is only 866 km/h. The second mechanism comes from meteoric bombardment of Enceladus, raising dust particles from the surface. This mechanism is not unique to Enceladus, but is valid for all Saturn's moons orbiting inside the E Ring.>>[/quote][quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn"]
[float=right][img3=""]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Enceladus_orbit_2.jpg[/img3][/float]
<<The rings of Saturn are the most extensive planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometres to metres, that form clumps that in turn orbit about Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with some contamination from dust and other chemicals. The origin of them is pretty much a complete mystery. The total mass of the rings is about 3 x 10[sup]19[/sup] kg [vs. Enceledus = 10.8 × 10[sup]19[/sup] kg ]. There have been recent claims, yet unverified, that this is an underestimate due to clumping in the rings and the mass may be three times this figure.
[b][color=#FF0000]In December 2010, National Geographic suggested that the rings of Saturn could be the remains of a giant lost moon that was stripped of its icy shell before it crashed into the planet.[/color][/b]
Data from the Cassini space probe indicate that the rings of Saturn possess their own atmosphere, independent of that of the planet itself. The atmosphere is composed of molecular oxygen gas (O[sub]2[/sub]) produced when ultraviolet light from the Sun interacts with water ice in the rings. Chemical reactions between water molecule fragments and further ultraviolet stimulation create and eject, among other things, O[sub]2[/sub]. According to models of this atmosphere, H[sub]2[/sub] is also present. The O[sub]2[/sub] and H[sub]2[/sub] atmospheres are so sparse that if the entire atmosphere were somehow condensed onto the rings, it would be about one atom thick. The rings also have a similarly sparse OH (hydroxide) atmosphere. [b][color=#0000FF]Like the O[sub]2[/sub], this atmosphere is produced by the disintegration of water molecules, though in this case the disintegration is done by energetic ions that bombard water molecules ejected by Saturn's moon Enceladus[/color][/b]. This atmosphere, despite being extremely sparse, was detected from Earth by the Hubble Space Telescope>>[/quote]