Geomorphology of Saturn's satellite Rhea: preliminary implications from the Cassini ISS data

Kurzfassung

With a mean diameter of 1528 km, Rhea is Saturn's second-largest satellite. The cameras aboard the Cassini Orbiter have imaged Rhea at resolutions up to 10 m/pxl. At regional image scale (e.g. 350 m/pxl), the densely cratered plains show little variation in terms of albedo and morphology. Large craters and impact stuctures (basins) are abundant. The cratered plains date back to a time of about 4.2 billion years. Ring structures have only one or two rings. Tectonic features provide evidence of extensional, compressive and shear stresses which also appear to have been active at earliest times, possibly at least 3 billion years ago or more.