Enceladus Discovery Timeline
February and March 2005
Cassini makes two trips by Enceladus.
- Cassini's magnetometer discovers an atmosphere around Enceladus, evidence that gases may be originating from the moon's surface or interior.
+ Read More - The cosmic dust analyzer records thousands of hits from tiny particles of dust or ice, possibly coming from a cloud around the moon or from the adjacent E ring.
+ Read More - The science teams plan to go back for a closer look.
July 2005
Cassini flies within 175 kilometers (109 miles) of Enceladus, the closest it comes to any of Saturn's moons.
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Warm Fractures on Enceladus |
- The imaging team sees unusual geology on the moon's southern pole, including house-sized ice boulders and evidence of recent geological activity.
+ Read More - The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer determines that the large dark cracks, called "tiger stripes," at the south pole are very young and seem to have a continual supply of fresh ice.
+ Read More - The composite infrared spectrometer shows that the south pole is much warmer than expected, suggesting an internal heat source.
+ Read More - The ion and neutral mass spectrometer and the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph detect water vapor in the atmosphere, which appears to come from a localized source.
+ Read More
November 2005
- Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer measures the spectrum of the plumes originating from the south pole of the icy moon, capturing a very clear signature of small ice particles.
+ Read More - The imaging team produces the first high-resolution images of the plume of icy material streaming from Enceladus' south pole, possible evidence of Yellowstone-like geysers fed by reservoirs of liquid water.
+ Read More
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Fountains of Enceladus |
