Enceladus Moon of Saturn. Image Credit: NASA/ESA |
Saturn's Icy Moon Enceladus may have tipped over in the distant past according to recent research from NASA's Cassini mission. Researchers with the mission found evidence that the moon's spin axis - the line through the north and south poles - has reoriented, possibly due to the collision with a smaller body, such as an Asteroid.
Examining the moon, researchers showed that the moon is tipped away from its original axis by about 55 degrees - more than half way toward rolling completely onto its side.And they also suggest that the moon may have some fossil remnants of an earlier, previous equator poles.
In 2005, Cassini discovered that jets of water vapour and icy particles spray from the tiger strips fractures - evidence that an underground ocean is venting directly into space from beneath the active south polar terrain.
Saturn's Moon Enceladus original equator was relocated to the poles. Credits: NASA |
0 comments:
Post a Comment