The Geysers of Enceladus
Published on 14 Oct 2007 at 3:17 am.
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Filed under Astronomy, Exploration, Space.
This photograph was taken by the Cassini probe of the water geysers on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. The water is heated in the interior of Enceladus to a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius. The water is hot compared to the -200 degrees Celsius surface, and after venting through cracks in the moon’s surface it blasts off into space unable to be contained by the moon’s low gravity. The water then freezes into tiny ice particles and forms Saturn’s E-ring. This is a gorgeous example of what is known as cryovolcanism.
