Enceladus : Small Moon Of Saturn
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft discovers ‘phosphorous on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
- It is the second nearest of the major regular moons of Saturn and the brightest of all its moons.
- It was discovered in 1789 by the English astronomer William Herschel and named for one of the Giants (Gigantes) of Greek mythology.
- It is an active moon that hides a global ocean of liquid salty water beneath its crust.
- Its icy surface is remarkably smooth in some places, and bright white all over and it is the most reflective body in the solar system.
- Cassini spacecraft mission was launched by NASA in 1997 and orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, circling the planet 294 times.
- It measured the structure of Saturn’s atmosphere and rings, as well as how they interact with the planet’s moons.
- It also discovered six named moons and revealed Enceladus and Titan as promising locations to search for extraterrestrial life.
