1 / 85

Saturn's Moon System: Extensive and Complex

Saturn's moon system is the most extensive and complex in the solar system, with over 60 known moons. Most of these moons are covered in snow and ice, with some potentially made entirely of H2O ice. This system can be divided into three groups: over 40 small moons, 6 medium-sized moons, and 1 large moon called Titan. The second largest moon in the solar system, Titan, has a reddish color caused by its atmosphere and has been explored by missions like Voyager I and the Cassini mission.

tbartlett
Download Presentation

Saturn's Moon System: Extensive and Complex

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Saturn’s Moon SystemMost extensive, complex moon system in the solar system.Over 60 known moons.

  2. Most moons are covered with snow and ice. Some are probably made almost entirely of H2O ice.

  3. Three natural groups exist: • over 40 “small” moons, • 6 “medium-sized” moons, • 1 “large” moon

  4. The one large moon is Titan. 5150 km in diameterTitan is the second largest moon in the solar system, only Ganymede is larger.

  5. Titan has a reddish color caused by an atmosphere!!Voyager I passed very close to Titan. (This cost Voyager I any more exploration).

  6. A hazy smog layer obscures the surface.

  7. Titan was explored by a lander as part of the Cassini mission.

  8. The lander found lakes and rivers of hydrocarbons and also hydrocarbon rain.

  9. Titan’s atmosphere is thicker and denser than Earth’s. The composition is N2- 90%, Ar-10%, CH4-1 to 2%.

  10. Sunlight causes chemical reactions in the atmosphere, which might produce some of the colors seen.

  11. Titan’s atmosphere contains ten times as much gas as Earth’s. It extends ten times as far out into space as Earth’s (due to lower gravity). The lower surface temperature (94K) favors the retention of the atmosphere.

  12. The six medium-sized moons are all spherical, and are between 400 and 1500 km in diameter.

  13. The inner five are all composed of largely rock and water ice. These five have circular, synchronous orbits inside Titan’s orbit. We discuss these in order from innermost to outermost.

  14. Mimas - gravitational resonance affects the ring particles causing gaps. Mimas has an enormous crater on its leading face. This crater is named “Herschel” and has a diameter 1/3 of the moon’s diameter.

  15. Enceladus - Similar to Mimas. There is evidence of large-scale volcanic activity. Many lava-covered impact craters (the lava is water). Volcanism on Enceladus replaces the particles in the E-ring of Saturn.

  16. Tiger stripes

  17. Tethys - heavily-cratered reflective surfaces. Tethys has a huge impact crater called Odysseus (2/5 the diameter of the moon).

  18. Dione - The trailing face of Dione has prominent bright streaks.

  19. Rhea - Saturn’s second largest moon. Heavily cratered with an albedo of 0.6. The water ice on its surface is very hard, so its craters look like the Moon’s.

  20. Rhea has the wispy terrain. Light colored streaks on the trailing side of the moon.

  21. Dione and Tethys

  22. Iapetus - orbits far beyond Titan on an inclined, elliptic path. It has a huge black spot called the Cassini Regio.

  23. Iapetus has a dark leading face with an albedo of 0.03 and a light trailing face with an albedo of 0.5.

  24. Smaller Moons

  25. Smaller moons: Some of the moons are “sweepers” that sweep out gaps in the rings.

More Related