冰火山

Enceladus Ice Volcanos

圖示版權與提供: Michael Carroll

Explanation:
In this stunning Saturnian vista - one in a series of artist's visions
of volcanos on alien worlds - icy geysers erupt along narrow fractures in
inner moon Enceladus. The majestic plumes were actually discovered by
instruments on the Cassini Spacecraft during close encounters with bright
and shiny Enceladus last year. Researchers now suspect the plumes originate
from near-surface pockets of liquid water with temperatures near 273 kelvins
(0 degrees C) - hot when compared to the distant moon's surface temperature
of 73 kelvins (-200 degrees C). A dramatic sign that tiny, 500km-diameter
Enceladus is surprisingly active, these ice volcanos hold out another
potential site in the search for water and origin of life beyond planet
Earth. Enceladus' ice volcanos also likely produce Saturn's faint but
extended E ring.

說明:
這幅迷人的土星景觀，呈現了冰噴泉從內衛星--土衛二
(Enceladus)的狹窄裂縫噴出的情景，它是畫家一系列外行星火山的想像畫之一。這些壯麗羽狀煙柱的實際發現，是在去年卡西尼號太空船與這顆明亮土
衛二近距離接觸之時。現在研究人員懷疑這些煙柱的源頭，可能是靠近表面、溫度接近攝氏零度的液態水窟，和這顆遙遠衛星攝氏負二百度的表面溫度比起來，零度
算是相當高溫了。這些冰火山很戲劇性的說明，這顆直徑五百公里的小小土衛二其實是很活躍，此外，這也是我們尋找水和地外生命的另一個可能地點。土衛二的冰
火山可能也造成了土星昏暗、廣大的E環。

資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU