14 DAY TRIAL // Two months ago, On October the 5th, NASA's Cassini probe came as close as 25 km from the surface of Saturn's small moon, allowing it to capture a new set of images that sparked new interest in Earth's scientists. These photos indicated that the southern polar surface of the geologically active moon featured new changes, some of them hard to explain, since they hardly resembled any event going on on the surface of our planet.
It seems that the "tiger stripe" fractures of the moon host large vents that eject large amounts of ice particles and water vapors, suggesting the possibility that tectonic motions similar to those on Earth may be occurring there as well. The large amount of plume varies with time, but it constantly reaches beyond Enceladus' atmosphere, even up to the magnetosphere of Saturn, on which it clearly has a noticeable impact.
"Of all the geologic provinces in the Saturn system that Cassini has explored, none has been more thrilling or carries greater implications than the region at the southernmost portion of Enceladus," Carolyn Porco, imaging team leader for the Cassini probe from the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, shared, as cited by PhysOrg.
"Enceladus has asymmetric spreading on steroids," panelist Paul Helfenstein, a Cassini imaging associate from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, explained. "We are not certain about the geological mechanisms that control the spreading, but we see patterns of divergence and mountain-building similar to what we see on Earth, which suggests that subsurface heat and convection are involved."
The team of scientists has concluded that the plume covers some of the vents at times, while opening others, thus accounting for the changes observed in the dynamics of the moon's surface. The phenomena happening on Enceladus may indicate the presence of a habitable area rich in liquid water under the region's surface. Perhaps the next flyby of Cassini, occurring on November next year, will reveal more on this issue.