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Tiger Stripes

If you’re planning a trip to Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, keep an eye out for Tiger Stripes.

If you’re planning a trip to Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, keep an eye out for Tiger Stripes. Spotted by the Cassini spacecraft in 2005, these stripes on Enceladus consist of four sub-parallel, linear depressions in the south polar region.

Computer models found that Enceladus got its tiger stripes when the moon cooled and ice grew downward, causing pressure and stress to form the cracks. Thought to be less than 1,000 years old, the tiger stripes of Enceladus are basically the moon's version of a fresh tattoo.

But beyond just a pretty pattern, they’re hotbeds of cryovolcanic activity. Data from the ISS, INMS, CDA and CIRS instruments revealed a plume of water vapour and ice, methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen emanating from a series of jets within the tiger stripes.

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