Tag Archives: enceladus

Saturn’s 500-km- (300-mile) diameter moon Enceladus is covered in ice which contains many long fractures or rifts, including fractures called tiger stripes. As the icy moon orbits Saturn, tidal forces cause the tiger stripe fractures to erupt tall geysers of water vapor; this suggests that there is liquid water somewhere …

A novel theory proposed by planetary scientists from Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenges the current thinking that the saltwater global ocean of Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn, is homogenous. Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating …

In a study published this month in the journal Icarus, planetary researchers from the United States and Germany modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons. Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a …

Spectral data gathered by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provide strong evidence that the northern hemisphere of Saturn’s moon Enceladus has been resurfaced with ice from its interior. In these detailed infrared images of Enceladus, reddish areas indicate fresh ice that has been deposited …

We didn’t get pasted by that asteroid that sailed through Wednesday, which is arguably a good thing. Discovered in 2014, it was due to pass by Earth at a close but safe distance, which it won’t do again for another 500 years. Scientists all over the world took the opportunity …

Life as we know it requires liquid water, and until recently that seemed to be in short supply outside of Earth. However, recent studies of Mars and several moons have pointed to the presence of water. In fact, some moons may contain subsurface oceans with a larger total volume of …

During NASA’s Cassini spacecraft’s deepest-ever dive through Enceladus’ plume of gas and ice grains, researchers discovered molecular hydrogen in the material spewing from the icy moon. This discovery provides further evidence for hydrothermal activity in the ocean beneath Enceladus’ surface and heightens the possibility that the ocean could have conditions …

Cassini found cryovolcanoes at the south pole of Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, back in 2005. These jets originate from the “tiger stripes,” four warm fractures in the moon’s icy surface. The chemical composition of the geysers points to a briny underground ocean that might extend the whole way …

A new study, based on microwave observations by NASA’s Cassini orbiter, shows that the south polar region of Saturn’s frozen moon Enceladus is warmer than expected just a few feet below its surface. This suggests that Enceladus’ subsurface sea might be lurking only a few miles beneath — closer to …

NASA has released a new image of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, taken by the agency’s Cassini orbiter. NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter obtained this image of Saturn’s moon Enceladus on November 27, 2016. This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of the moon. North on Enceladus is up and …