Enceladus | Universe Today

A liquid plume is spewing from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus — but is it coming from heated ice on the surface, or a liquid ocean underneath?

Analysis of the plume's chemistry, detailed in the Cassini (CICLOPS) image above and reported in Nature this week, may put the debate to rest.

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Two papers in the journal Nature this week come down on opposite sides of the question about whether Saturn's moon Enceladus contains a salty, liquid ocean.

One research team, from Europe, says an enormous plume of water spurting in giant jets from the moon's south pole is fed by a salty ocean. The other group, led out of the University of Colorado at Boulder, contends that the supposed geysers don't have enough sodium to come from an ocean.  The truth could have implications for the search for extraterrestrial life, as well as our understanding of how planetary moons are formed.

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Looking to go somewhere far-flung and exotic? Now is the time to book your excursion, and the Cassini spacecraft has several flyby tours of the moons Titan and Enceladus scheduled for the next few months. Major tour operators say the cost of long-haul flights and summer holidays prices are at an all time low. But with Cassini, you can travel for FREE! just by following the along with Universe Today and the Cassini website. Thrill with some of the closest flybys ever of the mystery moon Titan, and delight in explorations of the geyser plumes of Enceladus. As a special bonus, if you book today, you can experience Saturn's solar equinox, as in August the sun crosses from the southern hemisphere to the north. Wonderful worlds are beckoning – come away starting June 6 with Cassini! It's a worry free vacation. See below for available tour dates! Destination fees do not apply.
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Planetary scientists say the geysers shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus are likely to come from a subsurface sea of liquid water. During the Cassini spacecraft's fly-through of the geyser's plume on October 9, 2008, the instruments on board were able to measure the molecular weight of the chemicals in the ice. Detected were traces of sodium in the form of salt and sodium bicarbonate. The chemicals would have originated in the rocky core of Enceladus, so to reach a plume they must have leached from the core via liquid water.
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