Friday, June 03, 2016

How Thick is Enceladus' Crust and Deep is its Ocean?

The diurnal libration and interior structure of Enceladus

Authors:

Van Hoolst et al

Abstract:

We determine constraints on the ice shell and ocean of Enceladus from the observed libration at orbital period by assessing the effects of uncertainties in the size, density, rigidity, and viscosity of the internal layers and of the non-hydrostatic structure on the libration. The observed libration amplitude implies that the average thickness of the ice shell is between 14 km and 26 km and that the ocean is 21 km to 67 km thick.

No comments: