EUROPE: In new images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, red arcs are clearly visible on the moon’s surface, and are among the most unusual color features on Saturn’s moons to be revealed by Cassini’s cameras.
The images, obtained in April, are the first to show large northern areas of Tethys with such clarity. It also has helped that the Saturn system moved into its northern hemisphere summer over the past few years, meaning northern latitudes have become increasingly well illuminated.
“The red arcs really popped out when we saw the new images,” Cassini participating scientist Paul Schenk, of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, said. “It’s surprising how extensive these features are.”
Scientists can’t say what caused the reddish lines. Among the possibilities being studied are that the reddish material is exposed ice with chemical impurities, or the result of outgassing from inside Tethys. They could also be associated with features like fractures that are below the resolution of the available images.
Many reddish features occur on the geologically young surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa but the phenomena is relatively rare with moons of Saturn – with the exception of reddish-tinted features found on a few small craters on Saturn’s moon, Dione.
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