A big surprise has surfaced from the Cassini-Huygens Mission - the discovery of what is thought to be water on Saturn's moon Enceladus. "We realize that this is a radical conclusion -- that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms."
The Cassini images below show what are thought to be icy jets and plumes of water ejected at high speed. NASA scientists believe that these jets might be erupting from near-surface reservoirs of liquid water - at temperatures above zero degrees Celsius. They have been compared to geysers similar to Old Faithful in Yellowstone.
Image by NASARead more about
water on Saturn's Moon Enceladus at the NASA website.
Labels: Astronomy-Planets
