Moon peaks are fallen ring debris

• Autores: James Romero
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3168, 2018, pág. 8
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Saturn's moon Iapetus resembles a walnut, with a ridge of peaks 20 kilometers high running around its center. A new model suggests the ridge could be made of rubble from the collapse of a former ring. And data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft could confirm it. Recent alternative ideas suggest it is made of impact debris. Material kicked up when space junk collides with a moon generally falls straight back down or gets sent into orbit around the moon's host planet. However, Iapetus orbits Saturn at a distance of more than 13 million kilometers, far enough away from the planet's strong pull that the tiny moon's own gravity can keep hold of debris and force it into a ring. If destabilized, falling ring material could form a thin equatorial surface ridge