Enceladus: Saturn's icy moon and its highly active South Pole

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Enceladus: Saturn's icy moon and its highly active South Pole

            Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. It is the most reflective body of the Solar System because it is mostly covered with fresh ice. Spacecraft like Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Cassini deeply observed this moon and discovered some of the most amazing things on it. Cassini, during its close flybys of Enceladus, discovered the cryovolcanoes in the south polar regions.

            These cryovolcanoes eject geyser-like jets of ice, water vapour, sodium chloride crystals and molecular hydrogen. The discovery of such geysers was a matter of excess surprise for the astronomers. Cassini observed many terrains and young impact craters in the south polar regions. The impact craters in the south polar regions were as young as 500,000 years. Near the terrain, there are four famous ridges known as the "Tiger stripes". Such ridges suggested that there a lot more internal geological activity inside Enceladus than expected. Also, Enceladus' highest ever temperature was recorded near the tiger stripes. Hence south pole is the most geologically active place on Enceladus.

            Jets of vapour and ice became the centre of attraction for astronomers. No other body in the solar system has such an amazing south pole. Those jets eject 200 kg of matter per second. Further study suggested that these jets were the reason for Saturn's E Ring. The ice and other matter ejected by Enceladus contributed to the formation of the E Ring of Saturn. Such geysers also prove that Enceladus has a hidden ocean of freshwater below its surface. The ocean would have a depth of about 10 km. 

            The jets are due to the high pressure below the surface. Due to pressure, the vapour and ice cracks the ice shell and make their way up to the surface and leaves the moon's atmosphere. The ejected particle has a velocity of 1.25 km/s and sometimes reaches up to 3 km/s. Also, Saturn's gravitational pull changes the intensity of the erupting matters. When Enceladus is at apoapsis (when it is at the farthest distance from Saturn), the jets have the highest intensity and when it is at periapsis (nearest to Saturn), due to the gravitational compression the jets almost shut down. 

            Such amazing geology is found nowhere in the solar system. Of all the moons in the solar system, Enceladus the most unique one.


            

    

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