Description
Transcript: Enceladus is a modest but important moon of Saturn. Smaller than Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, and Tethys, it is only 500 kilometers in diameter. It has an unusual combination of old crater terrain and smooth icy planes. This moon forms a link between the old cratered surfaces on a moon like Ganymede and the smooth icy surfaces on a moon like Europa. Tidal heating has apparently caused watery eruptions that have resurfaced half of the surface of Enceladus. The icy regions of Enceladus are extremely reflective of light, reflecting 90 percent of the incident light. These bright regions of Enceladus are as white as a field of snow.
Transcript: Jupiter's Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, just under 5,300 kilometers in diameter. That's 8 percent larger than Mercury and twice the size of tiny Pluto. Ganymede has an old fractured surface covered in groves and fissures. This dark surface is heavily cratered...
Published 07/21/11
Transcript: There are many types of interplanetary bodies, and they contain important clues as to the formation and evolution of the solar system. Interplanetary bodies range in size from 1,000 kilometers to chunks of rock the size of a house and smaller. They range in composition from icy to...
Published 07/21/11
Transcript: Several hundred years ago the astronomer J. Bode noticed a peculiar thing about the spacings and distances of the planets from the Sun. If, for example, you take a sequence of numbers that double, add four to each one and divide by ten you end up almost exactly predicting the...
Published 07/21/11