Otbah (crater)
Encyclopedia
Otbah is an impact crater
on the southern hemisphere of Saturn
's moon Enceladus
. Otbah was first observed in Cassini images during that mission's March 2005 flyby of Enceladus. It is located at 39.6° South Latitude
, 156.0° West Longitude
, and is 9.2 kilometers across. A smaller impact occurred after the Otbah impact on the larger crater's southern rim, forming an impact crater 3 kilometers across. In addition to subsequent cratering, southwest-northeast trending fractures, prevalent in this region of Enceladus, cut across Otbah, forming several canyons several hundred meters deep along Otbah's rim. The high level of tectonic activity associated with this fracturing and the formation of the nearby south polar terrain may have also led to mass wasting along the crater's wall, leading to a 3 kilometer wide landslide deposit in the center of Otbah.
Otbah is named after one of the main characters in the tale "Otbah and Rayya" from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
. A crater named after the other main character, Rayya
, is nearby.
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
on the southern hemisphere of Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
's moon Enceladus
Enceladus (moon)
Enceladus is the sixth-largest of the moons of Saturn. It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Until the two Voyager spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s very little was known about this small moon besides the identification of water ice on its surface...
. Otbah was first observed in Cassini images during that mission's March 2005 flyby of Enceladus. It is located at 39.6° South Latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
, 156.0° West Longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
, and is 9.2 kilometers across. A smaller impact occurred after the Otbah impact on the larger crater's southern rim, forming an impact crater 3 kilometers across. In addition to subsequent cratering, southwest-northeast trending fractures, prevalent in this region of Enceladus, cut across Otbah, forming several canyons several hundred meters deep along Otbah's rim. The high level of tectonic activity associated with this fracturing and the formation of the nearby south polar terrain may have also led to mass wasting along the crater's wall, leading to a 3 kilometer wide landslide deposit in the center of Otbah.
Otbah is named after one of the main characters in the tale "Otbah and Rayya" from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age...
. A crater named after the other main character, Rayya
Rayya (crater)
Rayya is an impact crater on the southern hemisphere of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Rayya was first observed in Cassini images during that mission's March 2005 flyby of Enceladus. It is located at 32.3° South Latitude, 174.9° West Longitude, and is 8.8 kilometers across...
, is nearby.