科學(xué)家解開(kāi)土星衛(wèi)星恩克拉多斯上的“虎紋”之謎

科學(xué)家解開(kāi)土星衛(wèi)星恩克拉多斯上的“虎紋”之謎

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has been shrouded in mystery since its discovery in the late 18th century, but now researchers believe they have solved what causes the moon’s “tiger stripes,” according to a new study.

土星的衛(wèi)星恩克拉多斯自18世紀(jì)晚期被發(fā)現(xiàn)以來(lái)一直籠罩在神秘之中，但根據(jù)一項(xiàng)新的研究，現(xiàn)在研究人員相信他們已經(jīng)解決了導(dǎo)致月球“虎紋”的原因。

The “tiger stripes,” which were first spotted by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, are evenly spaced fissures, approximately 130 kilometers long and 35 kilometers apart. Icy material from Enceladus’ ocean gets shot into them, an observation that has stumped scientists.

“虎紋”最早是由美國(guó)宇航局的卡西尼號(hào)宇宙飛船發(fā)現(xiàn)的，它是均勻分布的裂縫，長(zhǎng)約130公里，間隔35公里。來(lái)自土衛(wèi)二海洋的冰冷物質(zhì)被射入土衛(wèi)二，這一觀測(cè)結(jié)果讓科學(xué)家們感到困惑。

“First seen by the Cassini mission to Saturn, these stripes are like nothing else known in our Solar System,” the study’s lead author, Doug Hemingway, said in a statement.

這項(xiàng)研究的主要作者道格·海明威(Doug Hemingway)在一份聲明中說(shuō):“卡西尼號(hào)第一次前往土星時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些條紋與我們太陽(yáng)系中已知的其他任何東西都不一樣。”

“They are parallel and evenly spaced, about 130 kilometers long and 35 kilometers apart. What makes them especially interesting is that they are continually erupting with water ice, even as we speak. No other icy planets or moons have anything quite like them.”

“它們是平行的，間隔均勻，大約130公里長(zhǎng)，35公里寬。讓它們特別有趣的是，即使在我們說(shuō)話的時(shí)候，它們也在不斷地噴出水冰。沒(méi)有其他的冰態(tài)行星或衛(wèi)星有類似的東西。”

Due to its odd orbit, Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s 62 confirmed moons, isn’t frozen solid, despite it being icy. So it stretches the ice sheets, which are thin and easily split open, the researchers found. It just so happens the stripes on the south pole cracked ahead of those on the north pole.

由于其奇怪的軌道，土衛(wèi)二，土星62個(gè)確定的衛(wèi)星中的第六大衛(wèi)星，并沒(méi)有被凍結(jié)成固體，盡管它是冰的。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，這樣一來(lái)，冰層就會(huì)變薄，很容易裂開(kāi)。碰巧南極的條紋比北極的條紋更早裂開(kāi)。

The first stripe, named after the city of Baghdad, stayed open, causing the other stripes to become parallel. As the water rose from the first strip, the “stripes” formed.

第一道條紋以巴格達(dá)市命名，并保持開(kāi)放，使得其他條紋平行。當(dāng)水從第一排上升時(shí)，“條紋”就形成了。

Hemingway and the other researchers noted that they’ve been able to study Enceladus’ ocean, thanks to these fissures, which continue to widen and narrow over time.

海明威和其他研究人員指出，他們之所以能夠研究土衛(wèi)二的海洋，是因?yàn)檫@些裂縫隨著時(shí)間的推移不斷擴(kuò)大和縮小。

“Since it is thanks to these fissures that we have been able to sample and study Enceladus’ subsurface ocean, which is beloved by astrobiologists, we thought it was important to understand the forces that formed and sustained them,” the researcher said.

研究人員說(shuō):“正是由于這些裂縫，我們才能夠?qū)ν列l(wèi)二的地下海洋進(jìn)行取樣和研究。”土衛(wèi)二深得天體生物學(xué)家的喜愛(ài)。

“Our modeling of the physical effects experienced by the moon’s icy shell points to a potentially unique sequence of events and processes that could allow for these distinctive stripes to exist.”

“我們對(duì)月球冰殼所經(jīng)歷的物理效應(yīng)的建模，指出了一個(gè)潛在的獨(dú)特的事件和過(guò)程序列，可能允許這些獨(dú)特的條紋存在。”

The research has been published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy.

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在科學(xué)雜志《自然天文學(xué)》上。