http://joshuacolwell.com/blog/index.php/2007/chasing-water-in-space/ Science, astronomy, politics, movies, and various minutiae. Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://joshuacolwell.com/blog/index.php/2007/chasing-water-in-space/comment-page-1/#comment-14699 JC Fri, 25 May 2007 02:32:02 +0000 http://joshuacolwell.com/blog/?p=183#comment-14699 Hi Todd, Hyperion, like the other moons of Saturn, does show the spectral signature of water ice. Temperatures are too low at Saturn for there to be liquid water, however. Hyperion's shape is not actually that unusual for something that size (things have to be about 500 km across for gravity to make them spherical), but it does have a very unusual distribution of craters that gives it a particularly odd, spongelike appearance. I don't know of any explanations for that yet. Hi Todd,
Hyperion, like the other moons of Saturn, does show the spectral signature of water ice. Temperatures are too low at Saturn for there to be liquid water, however. Hyperion’s shape is not actually that unusual for something that size (things have to be about 500 km across for gravity to make them spherical), but it does have a very unusual distribution of craters that gives it a particularly odd, spongelike appearance. I don’t know of any explanations for that yet.

]]> http://joshuacolwell.com/blog/index.php/2007/chasing-water-in-space/comment-page-1/#comment-14555 Todd Thu, 24 May 2007 03:21:14 +0000 http://joshuacolwell.com/blog/?p=183#comment-14555 I wonder about the two farthest major moons of Saturn. Iapetus seems so interesting, but Hyperion's porosity has me curious. Is it possible that Hyperion has already lost its liquid water because of tidal interaction with Titan? How else can we explain the moon's irregular shape? It's one thing for a comet to accrete into a loose conglomeration of rock, ice, and dust. But there's nothing near as large like Hyperion. I wonder about the two farthest major moons of Saturn. Iapetus seems so interesting, but Hyperion’s porosity has me curious. Is it possible that Hyperion has already lost its liquid water because of tidal interaction with Titan? How else can we explain the moon’s irregular shape? It’s one thing for a comet to accrete into a loose conglomeration of rock, ice, and dust. But there’s nothing near as large like Hyperion.

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