New colour maps of Saturn's icy moons Options

[ngunn]

New colour maps by Paul Schenk have now appeared in the Ciclops maps section. The Dione map is today's APOD. The link there goes to all the maps.

ADMIN: Ciclops Map Section. APOD Link.

[Gsnorgathon]

I thought the basic idea was that Saturn's magnetosphere swept up charged particles and deposited them on the moons' trailing hemispheres, since Saturn rotates more quickly than the moons orbit.

[DrShank]

I thought the basic idea was that Saturn's magnetosphere swept up charged particles and deposited them on the moons' trailing hemispheres, since Saturn rotates more quickly than the moons orbit.

this is essentially correct tho we still don't know the mechanism that darkens things (alteration vs implantation?). meanwhile, the front sides are all getting plastered by E-ring dust from Enceladus (except Mimas, where it is the backside being hit. Iapetus doesn't get any of those as it is too far out, and "far out". I have an article in 2011 in Icarus that discusses all the color effects in some detail but also they are described in my blog, from about the same time. http://stereomoons.blogspot.com/2010/10/co...-published.html There are several other posts on these topics too.

You guys are also giving me ideas and I'm working on some comparative charts for these bodes for the blog . . .