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Cassini detected water-vapour atmosphere on a Saturn's moon

Saturn’s snow-white moon, Enceladus, is shrouded by a thin water-vapour atmosphere, Cassini revealed. The atmosphere may be pumped out by erupting ice volcanoes or geysers - which could signal toeholds for life on the tiny moon.

Enceladus is too tiny to hold onto any atmosphere for long, so astronomers think that more violent processes - such as geysers or ice volcanoes - are replenishing the atmosphere.

No such geysers or volcanoes have been observed so far, but their discovery would mean liquid water exists below the moon’s surface - providing a possible habitat for life.

NASA’s Voyager spacecraft flew past Enceladus in 1981 and did not detect an atmosphere This may be because the craft passed by at a distance of 90,000 km. Cassini came about one hundred times closer during its two flybys on 17 February and 9 March 2005.

Or perhaps there was no atmosphere around for Voyager to detect. Maybe the atmosphere isn’t there all the time.

If geysers or volcanoes are the cause, the atmosphere might only be present when these are active.

posted by: kyawoo at 21:04 | link | comments |
saturn, unmanned missions

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