Cassini measures geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus (Forwarded)

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Los Alamos National Laboratory

Contact:
Nancy Ambrosiano, (505) 667-0471

March 10, 2006

Cassini measures geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- Cassini data obtained during a close flyby of the
Saturn moon Enceladus support an observation that large amounts of water
are spewing into space from the tiny moon's surface. This water originates
near south polar "hot spots" on the moon, possible locations for the
development of primitive life in the solar system.

Announced by the Cassini Imaging Science Team in today's issue of Science,
the theory is bolstered by measurements from the Cassini Plasma
Spectrometer (CAPS), as reported in the same issue by a team led by Robert
Tokar of Los Alamos National Laboratory. CAPS was partly designed and
built at Los Alamos.

"During the July 14 close flyby we began getting signatures, far from
Enceladus, of water ejection. From the deflections we could measure of the
ionized gas in the magnetosphere, it was erupting at 100 kg per second
(220 lbs per second), and the data are consistent with measurements from
the spacecraft's other instruments. It is actual H20 molecules," said
Tokar.

Enceladus is a small moon, but highly reflective due to the fresh layer of
snow and ice on its surface. Tokar suggests that the icy geysers at the
south pole, erupting from a series of cracks, are pumping a continuous
flow of water particles into the area above the moon. Much of the material
falls back to the surface as snow.

In addition to constantly refreshing the snowy moon's surface, the geysers
also appear to be supplying oxygen atoms to the planet's E ring. Like an
icy version of a steam engine, the little moon is chugging around its
parent planet, leaving a floating trail visible to the spacecraft's
cameras and strong telescopes.

"Our paper, with 12 coauthors from US and Europe, looks at the plasma of
hydrogen, water and electrons in the ionized gas of the magnetosphere. The
magnetosphere itself deflects in the vicinity of Enceladus, and we measure
the plasma and that deflection. That is how we were able to determine the
amount of water being ejected," said Tokar.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency and is run by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. The principal investigator of the multi-national
CAPS team is David Young of Southwest Research Institute.

Images of Enceladus and Saturn are available at
http://ciclops.org
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
and
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini online

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