NASA's Cassini captures photos of Saturn's Geyser Moon

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has transmitted the latest images of Saturn's icy, geologically active moon Enceladus captured during a flyby on Thursday (October 28).

 

Cassini came within 30 miles (49 kilometers) of the little moon's south polar region to gather samples from plumes of water, ice and organic matter blasting from Saturn's small, ocean-bearing moon.

 

The spacecraft does not have instruments to directly detect life, but scientists hope to ferret out details about the underground ocean that is believed to be the source of Enceladus' geyser-like plumes. Scientists suspect tidal forces are keeping the ocean liquid.

 

Cassini discovered the plumes, which stretch hundreds of miles into space, in 2005, a year after reaching Saturn.

 

During repeat flybys of Enceladus, Saturn's sixth-largest moon and just 310 miles (500 km) in diameter, scientists confirmed that the moon holds a slightly salty, liquid ocean beneath its crust.

 

Saturn, a gaseous planet and the second-largest in the solar system, is about nine time the size of Earth and is the sixth farthest from the sun.

 

The spacecraft will continue transmitting its data from the encounter with Enceladus for the next several days.

 

Scientists hope the recent data will allow them to determine if the moon has hydrothermal vents on its sea floor, an indication that small moon could support life.

 

Similar extremely hot, perpetual-night deep ocean habitats on Earth support a wide variety of life.

 

Cassini, which is due to end its mission in 2017, will make a final flyby of Enceladus in December.  — Reuters