Saturn has 82 moons, the most peculiar of which is Titan. It is located 1.3 billion kilometers from Earth, and unlike other planets, Titan is not a nearly circular planet, but more like a "walnut". On its equator, it is surrounded by a 1,300-kilometre-long mountain rangeIt looks like a metal "weld".
Titan has a "double face".One side of the hemisphere is charcoal black, while the other side is bright white. Many scientists speculate that this mysterious planet may be a spaceship abandoned by aliens. What is the truth, and what is it that makes Iapetus so peculiar?
Titan has a diameter of about 1465 kilometers and a mass of about 1 40 of the Moon, the astronomer Cassini discovered the planet in 1671.
Cassini observes Titan when he observes itI only saw the side facing the earth, and the other side turned away from the earth, and I couldn't see it. As Saturn rotated, when Cassini saw Iapetus again, he found that the planet was much less bright.
Therefore, Cassini guessed that the planet was a bicolor planetAnd it is tidally locked by Saturn, always with only one side facing Saturn. At present, among the satellites discovered by astronomers, it is very rare to have such a distinct "double face" as Titan.
In the 80s of the 20th century,When Voyager 2 passed by Saturn, it photographed this strange moon. The side of Titan's orbit reflects only 5% of the incoming light, so it appears charcoal black. The other side can reflect up to 50% of the incident light, resulting in a bright white appearance.
Astronomers speculate that perhaps Titan was a long time ago, when the entire planet was white and later turned black on one sideIt's because there is a side that always "eats ashes". Debris dust from space always falls on Titan, and over time, one side of it turns black.
The debris is likely to come from Saturn's other moon, Titan. When an asteroid or other celestial body hits Titan, some of the dust fragments produced will be captured by Titan's gravity and fall on the planet's surface, gradually forming a "double face".
But astronomers have found thatThe color of Titan's black side does not seem to be the same as the black of Titan's surface. Moreover, the black material on the surface of Iapetus seems to be more concentrated at the bottom of the basin terrain, so is it possible that these black substances do not come from the outside world, but emerge from the interior of Iapetus?
Some astronomers speculateThe material that makes up the dark side of Titan was most likely formed by volcanic activity. But soon astronomers objected.
If the black matter is caused by volcanic activity, then the side facing Saturn should be more volcanic due to tidal forces. Titan should be dark on the side facing Saturn and bright on the side facing away from SaturnInstead of the dividing line between the two sides of the current day, it is perpendicular to Saturn.
In 2004, scientists uncovered the secret of the "double face" by conducting a radar scan of Iapetan with the Arecibo radio telescope.
Iapetus, whether it is a light or dark surface, is mainly composed of a mixture of water ice and ammonia ice. Under the radar scan, the material on the two sides of the planet is no different, the dark surface is only covered with a layer of black matter, just like a layer of dust on the shiny ice surface, forming a clear color.
The dark black substance does not come from the outside world, but is a dusty substance on the surface of Iapetus. Titan is rotating around SaturnFacing the sun, the temperature can reach 110 °C, which is enough for the ice to evaporate to form a large amount of water vapor
When the ice evaporates, the dust in the lower layers is exposed, and the evaporated water vapor drifts to the shady side of the cold temperature, condenses into ice, and finally falls to the planet's surface.
Iapetus takes a long time to make one revolution, taking 79 days. During this process, the snow and ice on the sunny side will continue to shift to the shady side, and more and more dust will be exposed.
At first, the color difference between the two sides may not be very obvious, but over hundreds of millions of years, the color difference between the two sides will become more and more significantThe result is what is now known as "Double-Faced".
Most stars in the universe are approximately circular, but Titan is a "freak".On the equator, there is a 1,300-kilometer mountain range, 20 kilometers wide and 13 kilometers high, like a metal "weld".The whole planet looks like a walnut. Could it be an alien abandoned spaceship? Astronomers are puzzled.
Through computer simulations,The astronomical community has uncovered the secrets of the "weld". Billions of years ago, a cloud of nebula dust drifting through the universe gathered together under the influence of gravity to form Titan.
When Titan was formed, it rotated very fast, taking only 5 hours for one lap. At this rate, the unsolidified matter of the planets is changed by centrifugal force, and more matter is concentrated in the equatorial region, and the whole planet is more like an oblate sphere.
Over the years, Titan's rotation has slowed down, and its surface temperature has decreased, condensing into a solid surface. During the solidification and contraction of the star, the excess material in the equatorial region is squeezed, and a mountain range is gradually formedand it looks like a welded gap.
Today, it takes 79 days for Iapetus to make one revolution, and the slow pace has led to very little geological activity in its interior, and the entire planet has not changed much after hundreds of millions of years.
Although there are many mysteries on IapetusBut with the continuous exploration of scientists, all this has a relatively reasonable explanation. Of course, this is not necessarily the final conclusion, and as humans further explore space, new mysteries may be discovered on Iapetus, changing the previous conclusion.
The path of scientific exploration is long and tortuous, and scientists seek the truthIt is often necessary to overturn, revise and refine previous conclusions again and again. It is the tireless efforts of generations of scientists that have allowed the truth to emerge from the fog and to make people understand the mysteries of the universe.
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