A Space Carnival (#140) and some new names for Enceladus

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2010/02/09 10:39 CST

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This week the Carnival of Space is over at one of my favorite new blogs, Lights in the Dark. Actually it's not so new -- evidently this week marks its first anniversary!

Also, yesterday there were a pile of new names announced for features on Enceladus: Al-Medinah Sulci, Al-Yaman Sulci, Andalús Sulci, Bulak Sulcus, Makran Sulci, Misr Sulci, Shiraz Sulcus, Sind Sulci, Bishangarh Fossae, and Kaukabán Fossae. This is great, because one of those, Bishangarh, is the name of a feature for which I really needed a name a couple weeks ago when I posted about Bernhard Braun's pretty 3D views of Mars and Enceladus.

Image data: NASA / JPL / SSI; 3D model: Bernhard Braun

3D view of an Enceladan landscape

This 3D view of Enceladus is based upon a topographic model calculated using photoclinometry on a single Cassini image of the moon. It is looking along a newly named set of fractures named Bishangarh Fossae.

To see how all of Enceladus' names plot on the map, you can download the official map from the United States Geological Survey (in PDF format, several MB).