PRELIMINARY MAPPING OF THE WISPY TERRAINS ON SATURN S MOONS DIONE (D=1123 KM) AND RHEA (D=1528 KM) HAS REVEALED STRANGE LINEAR FEATURES PAINTED ACROSS THEIR SURFACES. THESE STRUCTURES APPEAR AS LONG (10S 100S KM) NARROW (1-10 KM) BRIGHT STREAKS THAT WE TERM LINEAR VIRGAE. WHEREVER THESE FEATURES ARE OBSERVED THEY APPEAR TO CROSS CUT ALL OTHER STRUCTURES SUGGESTING THEY ARE THE YOUNGEST FEATURES ON THESE SATELLITES. DESPITE THEIR YOUNG RELATIVE AGE THE LINEAR VIRGAE ON RHEA AND DIONE HAVE LARGELY BEEN OVERLOOKED IN THE LITERATURE. HERE WE AIM TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE BIASES IN THE CASSINI DATA SETS THAT MAY AFFECT THE DETECTION OF LINEAR VIRGAE ACROSS THE SATURN SYSTEM. WE PROPOSE TO CONSTRAIN THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF LINEAR VIRGAE ACROSS THE SATURNIAN SYSTEM AND CATALOG THE VIEWING CONDITIONS IN WHICH THEY ARE LIKELY TO BE DETECTED. WE WILL ALSO PRODUCE A CATALOG OF MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATIONS OF LINEAR VIRGAE WHERE THEY ARE DETECTED. THIS PROPOSED PILOT STUDY WILL PRODUCE A FOUNDATION FOR A FUTURE PROPOSAL TO CDAP THAT WILL FOCUS ON ELUCIDATING THE ORIGIN OF LINEAR VIRGAE THEREBY ENHANCING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOST RECENT ACTIVITY ON THE MIDSIZED ICY SATELLITES OF THE SATURNIAN SYSTEM.
$118,206FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC