enceladus & cryovolcano plumes, photographed by cassini, 10th may 2015.
53 images. the lower image shows a detail of the same sequence.
without knowing the exact image times it’s hard to work out the exact geometry here, but i think cassini is moving into line with the sun and enceladus. the plumes appear brighter as cassini reaches the angle where it can see sunlight scattered through the plumes.
enceladus’s plumes are impure water ice particles escaping from fissures in the moon’s south pole. the plumes are taken as evidence of an ocean below enceladus’ ice surface, presumably kept warm by tidal heating of the moon’s core by saturn.
image credit: nasa/jpl/ssi. animation: ageofdestruction.
age
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