The Fountains of Enceladus

Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

The Cassini spacecraft has found visual evidence that Saturn’s moon Enceladus is geologically active. Images taken by the spacecraft show streams of fine, icy particles rising from the moon’s south pole, suggesting they originated from warm zones in the region. The discovery puts Enceladus in the class of geologically active moons with Jupiter’s Io and Neptune’s Triton. It’s unclear what causes the geologic activity, but scientists think it’s due to internal heating caused by radioactivity or tides.

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