Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a […]
Enceladus
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
Hints of Fresh Ice in Northern Hemisphere Of Enceladus
New composite images made from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft are the most detailed global infrared views ever produced of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. And data used to build those images provides strong […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
A Recipe for Geophysical Exploration of Enceladus
Orbital geophysical investigations of Enceladus are critical to understand its energy balance. Mapping Enceladus’ gravity field, improving the accuracy of the physical libration amplitude, and measuring Enceladus’ tidal response would […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
Differing Enceladean Ocean Circulation And Ice Shell Geometries Driven By Tidal Heating In The Ice Versus The Core
Beneath the icy shell encasing Enceladus, a small icy moon of Saturn, a global ocean of liquid water ejects geyser-like plumes into space through fissures in the ice, making it […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
A Pole-to-Equator Ocean Overturning Circulation on Enceladus
Enceladus is believed to have a saltwater global ocean with a mean depth of at least 30~km, heated from below at the ocean-core interface and cooled at the top, where […]
Posted inEnceladus
Photometrically-corrected Global Infrared Mosaics Of Enceladus: New Implications For Its Spectral Diversity And Geological Activity
Between 2004 and 2017, spectral observations have been gathered by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on-board Cassini (Brown et al., 2004) during 23 Enceladus close encounters, in addition […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
Modeling The Complete Set of Cassini's UVIS Occultation Observations Of Enceladus' Plume
The Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) observed a plume of water vapor spewing out from the south polar regions of Enceladus in occultation geometry 7 times during the Cassini mission. […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
Repeated Impact-Driven Plume Formation On Enceladus Over Million Year Timescales
Water plumes erupting from the `tiger stripe’ features on the south pole of Enceladus are thought to connect to a global subsurface ocean. Proposed origins for the initial stress necessary […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
New Models Reveal The Inner Complexity Of Enceladus
A Southwest Research Institute team developed a new geochemical model that reveals that carbon dioxide (CO2) from within Enceladus, an ocean-harboring moon of Saturn, may be controlled by chemical reactions […]
Posted inEnceladus, Press Release
Spontaneous Formation of Geysers At Only One Pole On Enceladus' Ice Shell
The ice shell on Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, exhibits strong asymmetry between the northern and southern hemispheres, with all geysers compacted over the south pole, even though the […]