Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a global, water-based ocean

Beneath the think, icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, NASA researchers have found evidence of a vast ocean covering the moon’s entire sub-surface area.

The mechanisms that might have prevented Enceladus’ ocean from freezing still remain a mystery.

The presence of a worldwide ocean explains each the moon’s distinctive actions and the superb spray of water vapor escaping from cracks in its icy shell.

Their work was published this week in the journal Icarus.

“If the surface and core were rigidly connected, the core would provide so much dead weight the wobble would be far smaller than we observe it to be,” Matthew Tiscareno said in a statement. Researchers for the space agency came to this conclusion due to the moon’s “very slight wobble”, which must be the result of a liquid underbelly and nothing else.

The discovery of the ocean is the latest in a string of findings that indicate that Saturn’s sixth largest moon is geologically active. However, later studies using gravity data collected by Cassini during its close passes suggested that, rather than a regional lens of water, Enceladus might harbor a global ocean of liquid water.

“This was a tough drawback that required years of observations, and calculations involving a various assortment of disciplines, however we’re assured we lastly obtained it proper”, stated Peter Thomas, the research’s lead writer. Scientists analyzed over seven years worth of data and images of Enceladus sent in by Cassini which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004.

The geysers deliver samples from this ocean to the surface regularly, which makes Enceladus a prime candidate in the search for life beyond Earth.

“This is a major step beyond what we understood about this moon before, and it demonstrates the kind of deep-dive discoveries we can make with long-lived orbiter missions to other planets”, said co-author Carolyn Porco. “Cassini has been exemplary in this regard”.

On October 28 Cassini is scheduled for its closest ever flyby of Enceladus – right through the moon’s active plume of icy material – just a mere 30 miles above the moon’s surface.

Cassini will zoom by a few more moons before preparing for the mission’s “grand finale”, repeatedly diving through Saturn’s rings. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission.