One of Saturn’s branches has a mysterious substance on the surface and scientists are trying to figure out what it is. Now, 80 of those smaller orbs want to focus on them, but Rhea is the one with weird stuff hanging out there. Science Advances this week studied how there are three thick rings around the second largest moon. However, things are much worse than just the fact that the planet and its mini-me now match. Scientists are trying out old Cassini data to find out exactly what’s going on. Spectroscopy studies have shown that there is also some unknown substance on the lunar surface. So, for rebalancing, you have the first of these smallest materials with ever-recorded rings and a sort of mystery material going around.
Before we start joking about monsters or symbioses though, Rhea is a very harsh environment. The temperature on the moon ranges from -281 degrees to -364 degrees Fahrenheit on the dark side. (Rhea always confronts Saturn, helping to convey that strange distinction.) NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been on this mission for decades now. . Ultraviolet imaging data showed that the surface was made up entirely of ice. However, a kind of strange stuff was also present.
Even a stranger is the fact that researchers have a similar idea of what this mysterious surface is. Bhalamurugan Sivaraman, an associate professor at the physical examination laboratory in India, spoke to Inverse about their findings. It turns out, the substance could be Hydrazine. Basically, the inorganic fertilizer is a colorless liquid that smells like ammonia. On our planet, we use it for things like a spaceship spacecraft. Sivaraman and his colleagues believe that Titan, a nearby moon, was emitting nitrogen molecules. That process allowed Rhea radiation to convert the nitrogen to hydrazine. This would seem to be very rare, but scientifically plausible.
“We used data from the Cassini archive to understand exactly what’s going on,” Sivaraman told Inverse. ” “When we did the test for hydrazine, it was a game … This particular task helps us identify other molecules, which we didn’t know existed before. We’d like to look for molecules that are also caught in other waves. ”
So now the search is for more Hydrazine in the rest of the Solar System. If they find it, examining celestial bodies could lead to great improvement.
Do you think there is anything else hiding on those branches? Let us know in the comments!