Discovering more activity on the two moons of Saturn

According to data from Cassini's planetarium trip, there are two Saturnian moons, Tethys and Dione, spewing large streams of particles into space. This finding shows the possibility of geological activities, perhaps even active volcanoes above these frozen objects.

Due to the impact of charged gas (even to the plasma state) trapped in Saturn's magnetic field, these particles still cling to the two moons without disintegrating quickly. Saturn surrounds itself with a 10-hour and 46-minute cycle, which also tends to throw plasma out of the planet.

Shortly after Cassini arrived in Saturn in June 2004, he discovered the plasma disc created by the rotation of the planet and even the large gas spouts erupting from the edge of the disk.

Recently, Jim Burch of the Southwest Research Institute (USA) and colleagues used Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) to investigate this phenomenon. They showed that the emitted electrons turned toward Tethys and Dione."Demonstrating Tethys and Dione are important plasma sources in Saturn's magnetosphere," Burch said.

Saturn's satellite system.

Before we know it, people only know about the activity of Saturn's Enceladus moon. "This new result seems to be convincing evidence that there is activity in Tethys and Dione," said Andrew Coates, a research associate from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Such activities mean that the planet has yet to reach balance, or perhaps it is being powered.

Burch says that, in addition to tracking electrons, the team is also searching for the ion fluxes to determine the entire plasma component of Tethys and Dione. This discovery was published in the journal Nature on June 14, 2007 .

Electric and magnetic fields were recorded by Cassini on October 28, 2004 (Nature 447 833).