An Unusually Smooth Surface on Saturns Telesto
Explanation:
Why is Saturn's small moon Telesto so smooth?
Possibly
Telesto
is covered with a type of granular icy material similar to that suspected of covering
Pandora, another of Saturn's small moon's.
If so, Telesto might be
more like a pile of
rubble
than a solid body.
This recently uncovered
Solar System
mystery is currently a topic of research, however.
The unexpected finding originated last October when the
robot Cassini spacecraft,
currently orbiting
Saturn,
swooped past the 24-kilometer moon and captured the
first ever image
of Telesto's surface.
Telesto orbits Saturn always just ahead of the much
larger moon Tethys.
Pictured
above,
Telesto's unusually smooth surface was found to show some
large craters and
boulders, but not the high density of craters found on
nearby
Tethys or most other Saturnian moons.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
