Enceladus' Water Vapor Plume

The Cassini spacecraft flew close to Saturn's small moon Enceladus three times in 2005. Cassini's UltraViolet Imaging Spectrograph observed stellar occultations on two flybys and confirmed the existence, composition, and regionally confined nature of a water vapor plume in the south polar...

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Veröffentlicht in:	Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2006-03, Vol.311 (5766), p.1422-1425
Hauptverfasser:	Hansen, Candice J, Esposito, L, Stewart, A. I. F, Colwell, J, Hendrix, A, Pryor, W, Shemansky, D, West, R
Format:	Artikel
Sprache:	eng
Schlagworte:	Atmosphere Density Extraterrestrial Environment - chemistry Gases Ice Molecules Moons Occultation Plumes Saturn Saturnian satellites Scientific imaging Spacecraft Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet Stars Water Water - analysis Water vapor Wavelengths
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	The Cassini spacecraft flew close to Saturn's small moon Enceladus three times in 2005. Cassini's UltraViolet Imaging Spectrograph observed stellar occultations on two flybys and confirmed the existence, composition, and regionally confined nature of a water vapor plume in the south polar region of Enceladus. This plume provides an adequate amount of water to resupply losses from Saturn's E ring and to be the dominant source of the neutral OH and atomic oxygen that fill the Saturnian system.
ISSN:	0036-8075 1095-9203
DOI:	10.1126/science.1121254