NASA ’s Cassini spacecraftcompletedthe first of three final flybys of Saturn ’s icy moon , Enceladus . On October 14 , Cassini passed within 1,838 kilometers ( 1,142 stat mi ) of Enceladus , providing unprecedented views of the moonlight ’s north polar region .
This score Cassini ’s twentieth airless flyby of the glacial snowball - like moon since arrive at Saturn over a ten ago . A smattering of simulacrum were downlinked yesterday in pureness of the spacecraft ’s 18th launch day of remembrance , with more to fare over the next several days .
Enceladushas intrigue scientists from the very kickoff . Thanks to low - resolution figure of speech captured by Voyager , scientist had an idea of what the frigid satellite ’s northern pole looked like , and were eager to see the area in swell detail . too soon on in Cassini ’s missionary station , the probe conducted several flybys of the lunar month ’s north terminal , but could never get a good look as the neighborhood was blanket in wintry dark . Now that it ’s summer in the neighborhood , the area is light up and scientists confirmed what they had long suspected : a intemperately cratered Frederick North pole .
The north celestial pole of Saturn ’s icy moonlight Enceladus . NASA / JPL - Caltech / Space Science Institute
What they did n’t expect to find was a contrasting landscape painting with a surprising serial of spidery surface fractures crawl across a knock about terrain . " The northern regions are crisscrossed by a spidery connection of cobweb - slight cleft that slice through the crater , " Cassini imaging squad fellow member Paul Helfenstein , from Cornell University in Ithaca , New York , suppose in astatement . " These slight cracks are omnipresent on Enceladus , and now we see that they lead across the northern terrains as well . "
NASA / JPL - Caltech / Space Science Institute
Wednesday ’s flyby has already produced unbelievable images , but the best is yet to come . This first flyby is a prelude to Cassini ’s most daring Enceladus dangerous undertaking : fly through the Sun Myung Moon ’s southerly frigid plumes . On October 28 , the probe will fly over the south polar part at a distance of only 49 klick ( 30 Swedish mile ) above the surface .
In 2005 , Cassini first spotted a series of geysers near Enceladus ' south pole , regurgitate body of water - ice out into place . The sinewy jets are fuel by a subsurface ocean . Last month , we learned this ocean covers the entire moon , sloshing around under an icy insolence .
According to NASA’sstatement , as part of the forthcoming encounter , " Cassini will make its rich - ever dive through the lunation ’s feather of gelid spray , sampling the chemical science of the extraterrestrial ocean beneath the ice . "
Scientists expect to uncover clues about the moon ’s hydrothermal activeness and instruct about the ocean ’s chemistry , both of which relate to Enceladus ' habitability . The squad will also analyze information to face for evidence of geological activity in the Second Earl of Guilford glacial neighborhood .
" We ’ve been follow a trail of clues on Enceladus for 10 years now,”saidBonnie Buratti , a Cassini science team fellow member and frozen moons expert at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , California . “ The amount of activity on and beneath this moon ’s Earth’s surface has been a Brobdingnagian surprise to us . We ’re still hear to figure out what its history has been , and how it come to be this way . ”
Cassini ’s last approach will come on December 19 , when the investigation will analyze how heating is generated within its interior from a distance of 4,999 kilometers ( 3,106 mile ) .
