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Ongoing hydrothermal activities within Enceladus

Postberg, Frank; Altobelli, Nicolas; Sekine, Yasuhito +12 more

Detection of sodium-salt-rich ice grains emitted from the plume of the Saturnian moon Enceladus suggests that the grains formed as frozen droplets from a liquid water reservoir that is, or has been, in contact with rock. Gravitational field measurements suggest a regional south polar subsurface ocean of about 10 kilometres thickness located beneat…

Curtain eruptions from Enceladus' south-polar terrain

Spitale, Joseph N.; Hurford, Terry A.; Rhoden, Alyssa R. +2 more

Observations of the south pole of the Saturnian moon Enceladus revealed large rifts in the south-polar terrain, informally called `tiger stripes', named Alexandria, Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus Sulci. These fractures have been shown to be the sources of the observed jets of water vapour and icy particles and to exhibit higher temperatures than the …

Planetary science: Enceladus' hot springs

Tobie, Gabriel

The detection of silicon-rich particles originating from Saturn's moon Enceladus suggests that water-rock interactions are currently occurring inside it -- the first evidence of ongoing hydrothermal activity beyond Earth. See Letter p.207