apod
06-24-08, 12:12 PM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/tethys3_cassini.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/tethys3_cassini_big.jpg) Ithaca Chasma: The Great Rift on Saturn's Tethys
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team (http://ciclops.org/), SSI (http://www.spacescience.org/), JPL (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/), ESA (http://www.esa.int/),NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/)
Explanation: What created the Great Rift on Saturn's moon Tethys?No one is sure. More formally named Ithaca Chasma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Chasma), the long canyon running across the right of the above image (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09918) extends about 2,000 kilometers long and spreads as much as 100 kilometers wide.The above image (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09918) was captured by the Saturn-orbiting robotic Cassini spacecraft (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/mission.cfm) as it zoomed by the icy moon last month. Hypotheses for the formation (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2006/pdf/1749.pdf) of Ithaca Chasma include cracking of Tethy's outer crust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051012.html) as the moon cooled long ago, and that somehow the rift is related to the huge Great Basin (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070909.html) impact crater named Odysseus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus_%28crater%29), visible elsewhere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tethys_2008_PIA08407.jpg) on the unusual moon. Cassini has now been orbiting Saturn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn) for about four years and is scheduled to continue to probe and photograph Saturn (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050722.html) for at least two more years.
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080624.html)
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team (http://ciclops.org/), SSI (http://www.spacescience.org/), JPL (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/), ESA (http://www.esa.int/),NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/)
Explanation: What created the Great Rift on Saturn's moon Tethys?No one is sure. More formally named Ithaca Chasma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Chasma), the long canyon running across the right of the above image (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09918) extends about 2,000 kilometers long and spreads as much as 100 kilometers wide.The above image (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09918) was captured by the Saturn-orbiting robotic Cassini spacecraft (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/mission.cfm) as it zoomed by the icy moon last month. Hypotheses for the formation (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2006/pdf/1749.pdf) of Ithaca Chasma include cracking of Tethy's outer crust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051012.html) as the moon cooled long ago, and that somehow the rift is related to the huge Great Basin (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070909.html) impact crater named Odysseus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus_%28crater%29), visible elsewhere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tethys_2008_PIA08407.jpg) on the unusual moon. Cassini has now been orbiting Saturn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn) for about four years and is scheduled to continue to probe and photograph Saturn (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050722.html) for at least two more years.
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080624.html)