Is anything more striking than this family portrait of Dione and Enceladus ? The two Saturnian moon are night and Clarence Shepard Day Jr. when you put them side by side , and yet they ’re made from the accurate same material .
Both moons are largely ice , with a dim , jolting core frame of silicate mineral . But while Enceladus ( background ) is a fluent white snowball from afar ( up closer , you ’d seecraters on its N poleandcracks across its southern ice sheet ) , Dione ’s surface is benighted , and distinctly battered .
The difference between these lunar siblings has to do with geologic and atmospherical processes . On Enceladus , a south pole geyser system spews up salty water from a subsurface ocean , send out methamphetamine hydrochloride particles high into the moonlight ’s flimsy atmosphere and giving it a shimmery glow . Some of this sea powder ends up back on the earth like fresh , white blow .
It ’s a different story on Dione , which , unlike its kid brother , is n’t bless with underground ocean and dynamical methamphetamine hydrochloride volcano . ( It ’s okay Dione , we ca n’t all be Enceladus ) . Much like our Moon , Dione ’s aerofoil accumulates sign of age as it ’s hit with outer space radiation and flying dust . Dione was discolored long ago , as Saturnian dust slowly cumulate from the local natural gas heavyweight ’s mob scheme .
Dione is only 1122 kilometre ( 697 miles ) in diameter , while wee Enceladus is less than half that size . This endearing image of the pair was acquire by NASA ’s Cassini probe , at a space of 52,000 miles ( 83,000 km ) from Dione .
[ NASA ]
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