2006-06-02 |
NASA-Funded Study Says Saturn's Moon Enceladus Rolled Over
New research shows that the warm spot at Enceladus' southern pole may be due to the moon 'rolling over'. The new findings are presented in this weeks journal Nature.
Enceladus is an active, icy world with an unusually warm south pole and grabbed attention recently when the Cassini spacecraft witnessed icy jets and plumes ejecting large quantities of particles at high speed from the moon's surface. After examining models of what may cause the plumes, scientists have concluded that they may be erupting from pockets of liquid water near the moon's surface. Scientists know very little about Enceladus, but Cassini will perform another flyby in the spring of 2008 and collect more data about the small but fascinating moon.
Because life as we know it requires liquid water to survive, finding locations beyond Earth where water exists in liquid form is essential for the search for life in the Solar System.
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from NASA - JPL, Jun 02, 2006
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