2006-07-06 | MISSIONS
Enceladus Exudes an Air of Mystery
A cloud of atomic oxygen encountered by the Cassini spacecraft when it first arrived at Saturn has been traced to the icy moon Enceladus. In January 2004, when Cassini looked at Saturn's atmosphere, it found a massive bubble of oxygen near Saturn's outermost ring, the E ring. Then just a few months later, much of the oxygen was gone. A series of discoveries traced the source of the oxygen back to Enceladus. Through observation by Cassini, the moon has revealed itself to be a potential location for liquid water, which could be trapped below its icy surface.
Because life as we know it requires liquid water to survive, identifying liquid water in the solar system can help astrobiologists search for habitable environments.
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from NASA - JPL, Jul 06, 2006
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