Enceladus
Science

Facts about Enceladus

We found 16 facts about Enceladus

An icy world with a liquid ocean beneath the surface

Although the name of the moon comes from the giant Enkelados, who was crushed by Zeus in Sicily, the moon itself is relatively small. Its small size is compensated by its interesting geological structure and potentially favorable conditions that could support the emergence of life. Enceladus was carefully studied by the Cassini probe, which flew by it 22 times, including once coming within 50 kilometers of the surface. Saturn's moon is strewn with geysers that eject ice and organic compounds into space. Enceladus also boasts an ice volcano.

Enceladus
1
Enceladus was discovered by William Herschel on August 28, 1789.
2
It is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn.
3
The diameter of Enceladus is 499 km.
4
The area of Enceladus is over 800.000 square kilometers.
5
Enceladus' atmosphere consists of water vapor (91%), nitrogen (4%), carbon dioxide (3.2%) and methane (1.7%).
6
The average density of Enceladus is 1.61 g/cm3.
7
The surface temperature of the moon is 75 K.
8
There are geyser-like fissures on the surface of Enceladus that eject streams of water vapor and dust into its atmosphere at speeds of about 400 m/s.

The ejected material rises to an altitude of 1500 km above the moon's surface.

9
Enceladus' geysers are the main source of material in Saturn's E ring.

This material also reaches Saturn's atmosphere, where water from the Enceladus eruption can be found.

10
On February 17 and March 9, 2005, the Cassini spacecraft flew by the moon and discovered the moon's faint and thin atmosphere.
11
During Cassini's flyby on July 14, 2005, the spacecraft found an icy volcano on the moon's south pole.
12
The closest Cassini flyby over the surface of Enceladus took place in October 2015.

The probe, moving at a speed of 35.000 km/h, examined the composition of the material ejected by the geysers.

13
According to new research, liquid water may exist on Enceladus several meters below the ice surface, and conditions there may be favorable for the emergence of life.
14
In the equatorial region, the thickness of the Enceladus ice sheet is approximately 35 km.
15
Underneath the icy crust is an ocean of liquid water 75 kilometers deep.
16
The results of the study of data provided by the Cosmic Dust Analyzer spectrometer on board the Cassini spacecraft showed that among the material fired by Enceladus' geysers, there are organic compounds that create amino acids.
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