Macula (Geologie)

Thera Macula und Thrace Macula auf dem Jupitermond Europa

Macula (Mz. maculae) ist ein lateinischer Ausdruck für Fleck.

In der Planetengeologie bezeichnet der Begriff Macula ein ungewöhnlich dunkles Gebiet auf einem Planeten oder Mond.[1] Der Begriff wurde 1979 durch Bradford A. Smith und Koautoren eingeführt um Oberflächenstrukturen des Jupitermondes Europa auf Aufnahmen der Raumsonde Voyager 2 zu charakterisieren.[2][3] Später wurden auch Oberflächenstrukturen auf dem Mars, auf Titan und auf Triton als Maculae bezeichnet.

Maculae auf unterschiedlichen Himmelskörpern

Die Internationale Astronomische Union listet zur Zeit 20 offiziell als Maculae bezeichnete Oberflächenstrukturen auf vier verschiedenen Himmelskörpern. (Stand August 2018):[4]

Maculae auf Europa

Castalia Macula auf dem Jupitermond Europa
  • Boeotia Macula
  • Castalia Macula
  • Cyclades Macula
  • Thera Macula
  • Thrace Macula

Maculae auf dem Mars

  • Olympus Maculae

Maculae auf Titan

Ganesa Macula auf dem Saturnmond Titan
  • Eir Macula
  • Elpis Macula
  • Ganesa Macula
  • Genetaska Macula
  • Omacatl Macula
  • Polaznik Macula
  • Polelya Macula

Maculae auf Triton

  • Akupara Maculae
  • Doro Macula
  • Kikimora Maculae
  • Namazu Macula
  • Rem Macula
  • Viviane Macula
  • Zin Maculae

Einzelnachweise

  1. ↑ Ronald Greeley, Raymond M. Batson: Planetary Mapping. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-521-03373-X, S. 116.
  2. ↑ J. M. Moore, K. C. Bender, R. J. Sullivan, R. Greeley, A. S. McEwen, B. R. Tufts, J. W. Head III, R. T. Pappalardo, M. J. S. Belton & the Galileo SSI Team: Europan macula: Possible origins. In: Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, S. 973–974, 1997. (Digitalisat)
  3. ↑ B. A. Smith, L. A. Soderblom, R. Beebe, J. Boyce, G. Briggs, M. Carr, St. A. Collins, A. F. Cook II, G. E. Danielson, M. E. Davies, G. E. Hunt, A. Ingersoll, T. V. Johnson, H. Masursky, J. McCauley, D. Morrison, T. Owen, C. Sagan, E. M. Shoemaker, R. Strom, V. E. Suomi & J. Veverka: The Galilean Satellites and Jupiter: Voyager 2 Imaging Science Results. In: Science, Vol. 206, Issue 4421, S. 927–950, 1979. (abstract)
  4. ↑ International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN): Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (Nomenclature Search Results – Feature Name: Macula) Abgerufen am 12. August 2018

Auf dieser Seite verwendete Medien

Europa - Castalia Macula - March 29 1998 (26457658223).jpg
Autor/Urheber: Kevin Gill from Los Angeles, CA, United States, Lizenz: CC BY-SA 2.0

Assembled from red, green, and violet filtered images.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill
PIA09176.jpg
This radar image of Titan shows Ganesa Macula, interpreted as a cryovolcano (ice volcano), and its surroundings. Cryovolcanism is thought to have been an important process on Titan and may still be happening today.

This mosaic was made from images obtained by the Cassini radar mapper on two flybys. The lower part of the image was from the flyby on Oct. 26, 2004, while the upper part was from the Jan. 13, 2007, flyby. Ganesa macula is the dark circular feature seen on the lower left of the mosaic. Bright rounded features, interpreted as cryovolcanic flows, are seen towards the top and the right of the mosaic.

This image mosaic was taken in synthetic aperture mode. The resolution of the images is approximately 350 meters (1,150 feet). North is toward the top. The image mosaic is about 570 kilometers (354 miles) wide and 390 kilometers (240 miles) high.
Thera and Thrace Macula - PIA00875.jpg
Original description: This image of Europa's southern hemisphere was obtained by the solid state imaging (CCD) system on board NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its sixth orbit of Jupiter. The upper left portion of the image shows the southern extent of the "wedges" region, an area that has undergone extensive disruption. South of the wedges, the eastern extent of Agenor Linea (nearly 1000 kilometers in length) is also visible. Thera and Thrace Macula are the dark irregular features southeast of Agenor Linea. This image can be used by scientists to build a global map of Europa by tying such Galileo images together with images from 1979 during NASA's Voyager mission. Such lower resolution images also provide the context needed to interpret the higher resolution images taken by the Galileo during both its nominal mission and the upcoming Europa mission. North is to the top of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from the right. The image, centered at -40 latitude and 180 longitude, covers an area approximately 675 by 675 kilometers. The finest details that can be discerned in this picture are about 3.3 kilometers across. The images were taken on Feb 20, 1997 at 12 hours, 55 minutes, 34 seconds Universal Time when the spacecraft was at a range of 81,707 kilometers.