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ORBONIX · SATURN SYSTEM
ENCELADUS
A small icy moon of Saturn with a bright
surface, enormous underground ocean,
and powerful jets of water vapor and ice.
ENCELADUS · NASA / CASSINI
504 km
DIAMETER
238,000 km
DISTANCE FROM SATURN
1.37 DAYS
ORBITAL PERIOD
1.61 g/cm³
AVERAGE DENSITY
−201°C
APPROX. SURFACE TEMPERATURE
ICE + ROCK
MAIN COMPOSITION
A HIDDEN OCEAN WORLD
Enceladus is one of the most intriguing
moons in the Solar System.
Its surface is covered by extremely bright
water ice and is one of the most reflective
surfaces known in the Solar System.
Beneath the icy crust lies a global ocean
of liquid water.
The Cassini spacecraft discovered enormous
jets erupting from fractures near the moon's
south pole. These plumes contain water vapor,
ice particles and organic compounds.
Because liquid water, energy and organic
molecules are present, Enceladus is one of
the most important places in the Solar System
in the search for potentially habitable
environments.
SUBSURFACE OCEAN
A global ocean of liquid water exists
beneath Enceladus' icy crust.
ICE PLUMES
Powerful jets eject water vapor and
ice particles hundreds of kilometers
above the surface.
ORGANIC MOLECULES
Cassini detected organic compounds
in material originating from the
subsurface ocean.
DID YOU KNOW?
Enceladus continuously sprays material
from its hidden ocean into space through
giant ice geysers.
WHY THE PLUMES MATTER
Enceladus ejects jets of water-rich material from fractures near its south pole. Because this material comes from an ocean beneath the icy crust, spacecraft can sample particles originating from the subsurface without drilling through kilometres of ice.
Measurements by the Cassini mission found water, salts, organic compounds and evidence of chemical processes associated with water-rock interactions. These discoveries make Enceladus one of the Solar System's most important targets in the study of potentially habitable environments.
IMAGE:
NASA / JPL-CALTECH / SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE