{"id":12225,"date":"2013-10-14T23:32:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T06:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thunderbolts.info\/wp\/?p=12225"},"modified":"2014-07-25T16:47:33","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T23:47:33","slug":"daughter-of-uranus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thunderbolts.info\/wp\/2013\/10\/14\/daughter-of-uranus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Daughter of Uranus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The pocked surface of Saturn’s moon Rhea. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oct 15, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Craters cover the entire surface of this moon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhea<\/a>\u00a0is another of Saturn\u2019s moons that bears examination in light of electrical theories. Rhea\u2019s mean diameter is 1528 kilometers, so it is medium-sized in Saturn\u2019s\u00a0family of moons<\/a>. Even though it is small, the entire visible surface of Rhea is\u00a0covered in craters<\/a>. One large \u201cimpact basin<\/a>\u201d is 360 kilometers across, which probably makes it the most cataclysmic event in the moon\u2019s history, considering anything larger would have blasted it to rubble.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting features of Rhea is the large,\u00a0bright splotch<\/a>\u00a0that covers almost one entire hemisphere. Because it resembles the\u00a0rayed structures<\/a>\u00a0found on Earth\u2019s moon, scientists have attributed its formation to an asteroid explosively hurling subsurface debris outward in long ejecta blankets. As previous\u00a0Picture of the Day<\/a>\u00a0articles have noted, however, rayed formations are more likely to be the result of electric arcs and not impacts. The\u00a0bright rays<\/a>\u00a0on Rhea appear to have been created in the same way.<\/p>\n

The rays surround a large\u00a0central crater<\/a>\u00a0and not deep, but look more like a thin layer of dust without the gradual sizing of the granules as they recede from the point of impact. They were probably deposited by an \u201celectric wind\u201d as a plasma arc reduced the moon’s surface regolith to fine powder and then floated it away as ionized particles.<\/p>\n

Cassini\u2019s initial flyby in 2004 discovered\u00a0two craters<\/a>\u00a0with unusual formations in their centers. Nearly all\u00a0craters on Rhea<\/a>\u00a0occur in multiples, the majority of the larger ones are in pairs with many smaller craters distributed around them non-randomly. A surprising aspect to their arrangement is that they are found on the rims of the large craters, corresponding to what happens in electric discharge machining (EDM) when a spark will \u201cstick\u201d to one spot for a split second, carving small craters as the main discharge rotates within the large one. The two peaks in the centers of the craters are another example of EDM. The impact of a space rock could never create such a formation.<\/p>\n

Another eye catching feature on Rhea is an\u00a0oval-shaped crater<\/a>\u00a0approximately 115 kilometers on its long axis. The conventional explanation is that it was formed when a meteor, at some remote time billions of years ago, struck the moon and scooped out the crater along its direction of travel. If that explanation is accurate, then where is the gouge that should be at the bottom? Why is the leading rim not built up from the movement of rock and ice as the meteor exploded through it at a shallow angle? Why is the crater \u2013 and all the craters surrounding it \u2013 flat, with sharp, perpendicular walls? If the craters were made by meteor impacts, they should be rounded and have raised rims.<\/p>\n

These are only a few out of many such huge structures that indicate\u00a0Rhea<\/a>\u00a0did not undergo a slow, steady formation out of a nebular cloud, but was probably torn and pounded by rapidly evolving conditions that hammered its surface. What has been left behind is the record of those conditions in the form of fractures, chaotic terrain and\u00a0gigantic caldera\u00a0<\/a>as big as the state of Oregon, but with no debris.<\/p>\n

Despite what appears to be explosions large enough to rock the planet, there are no fragments \u2013 no big boulders or blocks of stone that must have come out of the big holes. If the craters and\u00a0rilles<\/a>\u00a0were formed in giant electric arcs, then the rock and ice was probably vaporized or turned into tiny grains and thrown into space.<\/p>\n

Stephen Smith<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for a Spanish translation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Oct 15, 2013 Craters cover the entire surface of this moon. Rhea\u00a0is another of Saturn\u2019s moons that bears examination in light of electrical theories. Rhea\u2019s mean diameter is 1528 kilometers, so it is medium-sized in Saturn\u2019s\u00a0family of moons. Even though it is small, the entire visible surface of Rhea…<\/p>\n

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