Ocean Hidden Inside Saturn's Moon False color Cassini image
illustrating the jets of fine icy particles erupting from the
south polar region of Enceladus. Please CREDIT: Cassini Imaging
Team and NASA/JPL/SSI Astronomers have found the strongest
evidence yet for an ocean beneath the icy shell of Saturn's
Enceladus, suggesting it could join the exclusive club of watery
moons in our solar system. The salty water is likely feeding
jets of water-ice that spurt from the moon's south polar region.
Such plumes were first reported in 2005, and ever since,
astronomers have suspected a liquid ocean might lie beneath the
icy shell of Saturn's sixth largest moon. The new finding,
published in the June 25 issue of the journal Nature, could bump
this diminutive world ? measuring 310 miles (500 km) in diameter
(about the width of Arizona) ? into a class that includes
Jupiter's Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. In addition, the water
and other key life ingredients such as organic material found in
the plumes, could provide a sui