Enceladus, the Jet-Powered Moon

A quite incredible view of one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus.

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via Universe Today by Nancy Atkinson on 01/10/10


The plumes of Enceladus are highlighted in this Cassini image.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

What an astonishing view of Saturn's moon Enceladus, as seen by Cassini! At least four different plumes of water ice are spewing out from the south polar region, highlighted because of the black space behind the Moon. On Twitter, Carolyn Porco said that we see four jets because we're looking down the four tiger stripe fractures crossing the south pole. "How lovely it is to know!" she added.
Cassini was about 617,000 kilometers (383,000 miles) away from Enceladus when it captured this image.

More info: Cassini website

© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us

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