Enceladus
A small icy moon of Saturn that sprays water from an underground ocean into space.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI) (CC BY 4.0)
Barely 500 km across, and yet it sprays water into space from an ocean hidden under its ice.
Enceladus is only about 500 km across, yet it is one of the most active bodies in the solar system. Near its south pole, jets of water vapour and ice grains erupt through cracks, feeding Saturn’s E ring.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flew through the plumes and detected salts, silica and organic molecules, evidence of a subsurface ocean in contact with rock.
Data sources
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