Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Posters | ScienceViews | Science Fiction Timelines |

PHOTO INDEX OF
PRIMARY TARGETS
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
EARTH
JUPITER
KUIPER BELT
MARS
MERCURY
METEORITES
NEPTUNE
OORT CLOUD
PLUTO
SATURN
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SUN
URANUS
VENUS
ORDER PRINTS

OTHER PHOTO INDEXES
ALL TARGETS
PHOTO CATEGORIES

SCIENCEVIEWS
AMERICAN INDIAN
AMPHIBIANS
BIRDS
BUGS
FINE ART
FOSSILS
THE ISLANDS
HISTORICAL PHOTOS
MAMMALS
OTHER
PARKS
PLANTS
RELIGIOUS
REPTILES
SCIENCEVIEWS PRINTS

Enceladus "Cold Geyser" Model

Target Name:  Enceladus
Spacecraft:  Cassini Orbiter
Instrument:  Imaging Science Subsystem
Produced by:  NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Cross Reference:  PIA07799
Date Released: 11 March 2006

Related Documents
Download Options

NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
PIA07799.jpgJPEG640 x 48056K
PIA07799.jpgJPEG960 x 720110K
PIA07799.tifTIFF960 x 720127K

As Saturn's active moon Enceladus continues to spew icy particles into space, scientists struggle to understand the mechanics of what is going on beneath the fractured south polar terrain. This graphic illustrates key aspects of the model proposed by the Cassini imaging science team in a paper published in the journal Science on March 10, 2006.

The model shows how proposed underground reservoirs of pressurized liquid water above 273 degrees Kelvin (0 degrees Celsius) could fuel geysers that send jets of icy material into the skies above the moon's south pole. In the graphic, the vent to the surface pierces one of the "tiger stripe" fractures seen in Cassini views of the southern polar terrain (see PIA06247 for a look at the tiger stripes). Temperatures increase with depth.

Some combination of internal radioactive decay and flexing -- perhaps concentrated within the tiger stripe fractures and brought about by the particular characteristics of Enceladus' orbit--is implicated as the source of the heat creating the liquid reservoirs. However, it is not yet clear how the deep interior of Enceladus functions, nor whether the moon is fully differentiated (separated into layers, with rock at the center and ice outside).

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.