Celestial Objects
Enceladus
Moon of Saturn
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An icy moon of Saturn, discovered on 28 August 1789 by William Herschel, roughly 500 kilometers across. Cryovolcanic jets near its south pole shoot geyser-like plumes of water vapor, ice particles and other volatiles, including sodium chloride crystals, into space at a rate of about 200 kilograms per second, evidence for a liquid subsurface ocean beneath its frozen crust. NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew repeatedly through these plumes beginning in 2005, sampling their composition directly and making Enceladus one of the solar system's leading candidates for a habitable environment beyond Earth.
Facts
Object TypeIcy moon (natural satellite of Saturn) 1 Diameter (km) Orbital Distanceabout 238,037 km from Saturn 1 Discovery Year Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationEnceladus (Wikipedia) - plumesQuote, Enceladus (Wikipedia) - plumes
Cryovolcanoes near the south pole shoot geyser-like jets of water vapour, molecular hydrogen, other volatiles, and solid material, including sodium chloride crystals and ice particles, into space, totalling about 200 kilograms (440 pounds) per second.
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationEnceladus (Wikipedia) - discoveryQuote, Enceladus (Wikipedia) - discovery
discovered on August 28, 1789, by William Herschel
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationEnceladus (Wikipedia) - diameterQuote, Enceladus (Wikipedia) - diameter
approximately 513 km between the sub- and anti-Saturnian poles, 503 km between the leading and trailing hemispheres, and 497 km between the north and south poles
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationEnceladus (Wikipedia) - object typeQuote, Enceladus (Wikipedia) - object type
existence of a subsurface ocean
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationEnceladus, Wikipedia - physical characteristics infoboxQuote, Enceladus, Wikipedia - physical characteristics infobox
approximately 1.080318 x 10^20 kg
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationEnceladus, Wikipedia - orbital characteristics infoboxQuote, Enceladus, Wikipedia - orbital characteristics infobox
238037 km
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationOrbits: Saturn, Enceladus (Wikipedia) - orbits SaturnQuote, Orbits: Saturn, Enceladus (Wikipedia) - orbits Saturn
The Cassini spacecraft conducted extensive investigations of Enceladus
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