Ariel's Densely Pitted Surface
Image Not Available
Photograph
Ariel's Densely Pitted Surface
January 24, 1986
Gelatin silver print
Image: 24.4 x 19.4 cm
Overall: 25.4 x 20.3 cm
Gift of NASA and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Inscriptions verso (applied label, typed): PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE/ JET PROPULSION LABORATORY/ CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY/ NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION/ PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, 91109. TELEPHONE: (818) 354-5011/ PHOTO CAPTION (TOP) P-29520 B/W/ U-2-39/ 1/27/86/ This mosaic of the four highest-resolution images of Ariel/ represents the most detailed Voyager 2 picture of this/ satellite of Uranus. The images were taken through the clear/ filter of Voyager's narrow-angle camera on Jan. 24, 1986, at/ a distance of about 130,000 kilometers (80,000 miles). Ariel/ is about 1,200 km (750 mi) in diameter; the resolution here/ is 2.4 km (1.5 mi). Much of Ariel's surface is densely/ pitted with craters 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 mi) across. These/ craters are close to the threshold of detection in this/ picture. Numerous valleys and fault scarps crisscross the/ highly pitted terrain. Voyager scientists believe the/ valleys have formed over down-dropped fault blocks (graben);/ apparently, extensive faulting has occurred as a result of/ expansion and stretching of Ariel's crust. The largest fault/ valleys, near the terminator at right, as well as a smooth/ region near the center of this image, have been partly filled/ with deposits that are younger and less heavily cratered than/ the pitted terrain. Narrow, somewhat sinuous scarps and/ valleys have been formed, in turn, in these young deposits./ It is not yet clear whether these sinuous features have been/ formed by faulting or by the flow of fluids. The Voyager/ project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory./ #####
