Unusual Red Arcs Spotted on Icy Saturn Moon

a reply to: mahatche

Pretty interesting, if this picture had no context I would have assumed it was the inside of a cave.

originally posted by: mahatche
www.nasa.gov...

Like graffiti sprayed by an unknown artist, unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks are visible on the surface of Saturn's icy moon Tethys in new, enhanced-color images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The red arcs are narrow, curved lines 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 red arcs must be geologically young because they cut across older features like impact craters, but we don't know their age in years." said Paul Helfenstein, a Cassini imaging scientist at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, who helped plan the observations. "If the stain is only a thin, colored veneer on the icy soil, exposure to the space environment at Tethys' surface might erase them on relatively short time scales."

No one knows what created the marks, so I don't have much else to add, but If I had to guess I'd say a space dinosaur was killed and drug across the surface.

Primordial oz seeping to the surface?

can't wait to see what they come up with.

I just wanted to add, isn't it GREAT we are still getting new images from Cassini from Saturn? People often bemoan the cost of such missions to lurk around a planet like Mars or Jupiter or Saturn but the amount of imagery and science data which can be done on an orbiter mission vs a flyby is IMMENSE and so worth it. Features like this are one of the many reasons.

a reply to: JadeStar

I didn't even know Cassini was close enough to Tethys to capture such stunning images! Are they still actively changing it's orbits?

a reply to: JadeStar

Indeed, I suspect with the right study and questions that an area of the solar system as dynamic and varied as Saturn and her moons could yield an incredible amount of information for mankind.

originally posted by: mahatche

originally posted by: IanFleming

originally posted by: Glassbender777
I think the way the color is spread across the moon in arcs, is more telling of how it could have been formed. Im no geologist, but maybe it was formed as some celestial object crossed paths with the moon, spreading the red matter, as the moon orbited. Who knows, maybe this is where some of saturns rings disappeared too.

Perhaps. They also look more recent than the impact craters.

it's defiantly more recent than all the features it's passing through, that's what makes it most intriguing to me. Since it's a icy moon I'm guessing a liquid from beneath the surface seeped through.

I have to agree. Well spotted!

a reply to: mahatche

I don't know a thing about photography, but this picture looks really weird to me. It just looks off.

Looks like the golf ball rock I have sitting in my pen box.

Hopefully, I can do justice to what my husband stated. He says it looks like mineral deposits that were pushed to the surface. Basically, something hit the otherside of the planet and created shockwaves. He gave me some known past history about mercury having Similiar attributes. I can't believe it this is true, NASA hadn't made that deduction themselves. Sigh. Throwing this out there. Hubby is not an ATS'er but is an annoying genius! I have learned the hard way, he is usually right. His memory is an encyclopedia for me! Lol. What say you? Is this a plausible explanation? Did NASA have a theory for marks on mercury? Were there similar marks on mercury?

Edit add: I must admit if they are signs of mineral deposits, that would be exciting too! Telling what may be under the ice!

originally posted by: ScientificRailgun
a reply to: JadeStar

I didn't even know Cassini was close enough to Tethys to capture such stunning images! Are they still actively changing it's orbits?

Yes. It's a 20 year mission. Kinda amazing huh?

I was 2 years old when it launched.

originally posted by: BelowLowAnnouncement
a reply to: JadeStar

Indeed, I suspect with the right study and questions that an area of the solar system as dynamic and varied as Saturn and her moons could yield an incredible amount of information for mankind.

I agree. Close study of all of the Icy Moons of the Solar System could yield a lot of amazing discoveries. I feel that in an ideal world we'd be placing orbiters and landers around or on all of them. Oh well at least the NASA and ESA orbiter missions to Europa are a go and it looks like the NASA submarine to Titan will be too!

NASAs planetary artists / special effects dept having a bad day ...
you know, the ones that draw the planets and rest of the solar system for us ..

originally posted by: Segenam
NASAs planetary artists / special effects dept having a bad day ...
you know, the ones that draw the planets and rest of the solar system for us

..

Take your kid to work day snafu.

Just joking folks.

who knows what it could be? like pluto stuff showing up it just proves what i,ve always thought that scientists are working on guess work,pluto was dead,shouldn,t have any geology and low and behold guess what it seems to have.

at moment they have no clue but bet they come up with something to explain it just so they don,t look like fools.

originally posted by: sparky31
who knows what it could be? like pluto stuff showing up it just proves what i,ve always thought that scientists are working on guess work,pluto was dead,shouldn,t have any geology and low and behold guess what it seems to have.

at moment they have no clue but bet they come up with something to explain it just so they don,t look like fools.

Theories are a natural part of science. It's impossible to not make an educated guess. Despite centuries of people looking at the stars Pluto was only discovered in 1930, and it's billions of miles away, expecting 100% accurate knowledge the first time you see something in a telescope is unrealistic.

originally posted by: mahatche

originally posted by: sparky31
who knows what it could be? like pluto stuff showing up it just proves what i,ve always thought that scientists are working on guess work,pluto was dead,shouldn,t have any geology and low and behold guess what it seems to have.

at moment they have no clue but bet they come up with something to explain it just so they don,t look like fools.

Theories are a natural part of science. It's impossible to not make an educated guess. Despite centuries of people looking at the stars Pluto was only discovered in 1930, and it's billions of miles away, expecting 100% accurate knowledge the first time you see something in a telescope is unrealistic.

i know that,but if u look at science discoverys then scientists always believe they are right,the general public are expected to believe everything they say is 100% fact when most of the time what they thought they knew turns out to be complete crap.

originally posted by: sparky31

originally posted by: mahatche

originally posted by: sparky31
who knows what it could be? like pluto stuff showing up it just proves what i,ve always thought that scientists are working on guess work,pluto was dead,shouldn,t have any geology and low and behold guess what it seems to have.

at moment they have no clue but bet they come up with something to explain it just so they don,t look like fools.

Theories are a natural part of science. It's impossible to not make an educated guess. Despite centuries of people looking at the stars Pluto was only discovered in 1930, and it's billions of miles away, expecting 100% accurate knowledge the first time you see something in a telescope is unrealistic.

i know that,but if u look at science discoverys then scientists always believe they are right,the general public are expected to believe everything they say is 100% fact when most of the time what they thought they knew turns out to be complete crap.

And the only reason you know it's wrong is because science found ti to be wrong.

That's the great thing about science it corrects itself.

originally posted by: mahatche

originally posted by: sparky31

originally posted by: mahatche

originally posted by: sparky31
who knows what it could be? like pluto stuff showing up it just proves what i,ve always thought that scientists are working on guess work,pluto was dead,shouldn,t have any geology and low and behold guess what it seems to have.

at moment they have no clue but bet they come up with something to explain it just so they don,t look like fools.

Theories are a natural part of science. It's impossible to not make an educated guess. Despite centuries of people looking at the stars Pluto was only discovered in 1930, and it's billions of miles away, expecting 100% accurate knowledge the first time you see something in a telescope is unrealistic.

i know that,but if u look at science discoverys then scientists always believe they are right,the general public are expected to believe everything they say is 100% fact when most of the time what they thought they knew turns out to be complete crap.

And the only reason you know it's wrong is because science found ti to be wrong.

That's the great thing about science it corrects itself.

wow yeah when they realize they are wrong but until then we have to believe what they say goes cause no ones allowed to question it until they say its true.

a reply to: mahatche

That's cool. It looks like seismic fracturing from a crater impact (not in the shot) something welled up depending on how much heat.

I'd like to point out that the published image is, besides being false-colour, is very enhanced. I've gone to the raw Cassini images archive and made a direct stack of the infrared/green/UV frames of part of the area seen in the published image. The result was almost colourless (with just a bit of yellowish hue). Here's the image with saturation cranked up:



You can just about make out the red lines. (The red fringe around the edge of Tethys is due to images not aligning perfectly, so ignore it)

But the red colour that appears in both mine and NASA's image is really infrared colour. The moon's surface is fairly uniform in visible colours: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov...

My theory about the origin of those (infra)red lines is that a few loose chunks of matter that orbits Saturn impacted the moon at a very shallow angle, leaving those streaks. The chunks were rich in tholins,complex hydrocarbons that have a reddish hue, which partially cover some other saturnian moons and the rings.

originally posted by: mahatche
www.nasa.gov...

Like graffiti sprayed by an unknown artist, unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks are visible on the surface of Saturn's icy moon Tethys in new, enhanced-color images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The red arcs are narrow, curved lines on the moon's surface, and are among the most unusual color features on Saturn's moons to be revealed by Cassini's cameras.

Chill out. If the image is true color, then its streake of rusting iron. Where are the aliens?

"The red arcs must be geologically young because they cut across older features like impact craters, but we don't know their age in years." said Paul Helfenstein, a Cassini imaging scientist at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, who helped plan the observations. "If the stain is only a thin, colored veneer on the icy soil, exposure to the space environment at Tethys' surface might erase them on relatively short time scales."

No one knows what created the marks, so I don't have much else to add, but If I had to guess I'd say a space dinosaur was killed and drug across the surface.

Primordial oz seeping to the surface?

can't wait to see what they come up with.

wow yeah when they realize they are wrong but until then we have to believe what they say goes cause no ones allowed to question it until they say its true.

You don't have to believe anything. Science doesn't determine what you can and can't question. If you had information on Pluto that you felt was more accurate, no one would stop you from presenting your evidence. It would be heavily scrutinized, but that's a good thing. If you had a counter theory on the planet billions of miles away you'd either be validated or proven wrong as more information became available, what's the problem?

And whats your alternative to science if you don't mind me asking?