Using images from theCassinispace investigation , scientists from Brown University and the Lunar and Planetary Institute have gather data which paint a picture that an equatorial ridge present on one of Saturn ’s lunar month , Iapetus , may have formed through outside processes . Theresultscan be found in apreprint versionof the paper which has been submitted to the journalIcarus .
Saturnpossesses adiverse arrayof icy Sun Myung Moon , or artificial satellite , which differ considerably in size and line of descent . Of the 62 discovered so far 53 have been officially key out . The third largest moonshine , Iapetus , was discovered in 1671 byGiovanni Domenico Cassiniand is nickname the yin and yang moon due to its distinctive two - tone coloring . Iapetus also possess an impressive ridge organization along its equator ; some areas are report to turn over a meridian of 20 kilometers and 70 kilometers in width .
What has intrigued scientist over the years is how this ridge system come to be . One possibleness is that it was perhaps imprint by architectonic forces or volcanism , which could explain its equatorial location . Another is that rather than being a result of processes occurring on the synodic month itself , outside ( exogenic ) processes such as debris infall may be creditworthy . One such theory is that it could be come from an former ring organisation which fell onto the moon .
for molt light on the pedigree of the rooftree , scientists used images from theCassinispace investigation to generate topographical profiles of the ridgepole , which they then used to evaluate peak morphology and slope angle . They found that the most common peak human body was triangular and also found grounds of gradient angles closely to the angle of repose , which is the maximum slant at which material on the slope will remain in position without sliding down .
Although this information can not essay what formed this ridge , the scientist trust that it provides grounds that it may be exogenic rather than endogenic in origin . This is because geological body process would grow less uniform , shallow peaks . What seems more likely at this stage is that a mob may have once been revolve the moonlight which was the result of a collision effect . This ring may have then fallen onto the equator of the planet , producing the peaks .
