'Tiger stripes' may be hiding secrets of life on Saturn's moon Enceladus

In the latest research, scientists have found that the distinctive"tiger stripes" as well as the sliding side-by-side motion of Saturn's moon Enceladus are related to jets of ice crystals which erupt from its icy shell.

The new findings will help scientists determine the characteristics of the subsurface ocean present on the icy moon of Saturn and also help determine if Enceladus is favourable to life.

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The tiger stripes, present on the surface ofEnceladus,are filled with four parallel line fractures in the south pole of the moon, which were first observed byNASA's Cassini spacecraftin 2005.

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The ice crystals are created in this region due to "cryovolcanism" and are believed to originate from thefractures present in the buried oceans of Enceladus. Because of this, a lot of material gathers over the south pole of the moon.

Both the jets which createit and the brightness of this plume seem to differ in a pattern which lines up with the nearly 33-hourorbit of Enceladus around Saturn, which is the second-most massive planet in the solar system.

Scientists try to decodetiger stripes

Because of this, scientists have theorised that there is an increase in the activity of the jets as the tidal stress impacts the tiger stripes.

The theory has, however, failed to explain why there is a peak in jets of Enceladus peak in brightness hours after tidal stresses reach their maximum or why a second smaller peak takes place just after Enceladus makes its closest approach to Saturn.

According to the scientists, a new numerical simulation of the tidal stresses on Enceladus and the motion of its tiger stripe fractures helps in identifying a phenomenon which is similar to what has been seen at the San Andreas fault, in correspondence with the jet activity's pattern.

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Speaking to Space.com, leader of the team behind the simulation and a PhD Candidate at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Alexander Berne said, "We developed a sophisticated numerical model to simulate tidally-driven strike-slip motion along Enceladus' faults. These models consider the role of friction, which causes the amount of slip on the faults to be sensitive to both compressional and shearing stresses."

"The numerical model was able to simulate slip along Enceladus's faults in a manner which matched observed variations in plume brightness as well as spatial variations in surface temperature, suggesting that the jets and plume brightness variationsare controlledby strike-slip motion over Enceladus' orbit," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)