Enceladus’s subsurface ocean wraps the moon

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Source:  Steven K. Blau, Physics Today

Excerpt:
2015-10-12. Enceladus’s subsurface ocean wraps the moon. By Steven K. Blau, Physics Today. For GSS A Changing Cosmos chapter 7. Excerpt: The satellite’s response to torque applied by Saturn shows that its icy surface and silicate core are not attached. A decade ago the Cassini orbiter spotted gas and ice spewing from the south polar region of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Subsequent investigations revealed that the ice is salty, a result indicating that the ice originated from a liquid ocean between Enceladus’s frozen surface and its silicate core. Now Peter Thomas (Cornell University) and his colleagues have analyzed more than seven years of Cassini surface observations and shown that the ocean is not localized at the polar region of Enceladus; rather, it is global....  URL 0

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