Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot
The Cassini spacecraft completed three close flybys of Saturn's enigmatic moon Enceladus between February and July 2005. On the third and closest flyby, on 14 July 2005, multiple Cassini instruments detected evidence for ongoing endogenic activity in a region centered on Enceladus' south p...
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craaas:10.1126/science.1121661 2024-06-23T07:56:49+00:00 Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot Spencer, J. R. Pearl, J. C. Segura, M. Flasar, F. M. Mamoutkine, A. Romani, P. Buratti, B. J. Hendrix, A. R. Spilker, L. J. Lopes, R. M. C. 2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1121661 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1121661 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 311, issue 5766, page 1401-1405 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 2006 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121661 2024-06-06T04:01:24Z The Cassini spacecraft completed three close flybys of Saturn's enigmatic moon Enceladus between February and July 2005. On the third and closest flyby, on 14 July 2005, multiple Cassini instruments detected evidence for ongoing endogenic activity in a region centered on Enceladus' south pole. The polar region is the source of a plume of gas and dust, which probably emanates from prominent warm troughs seen on the surface. Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) detected 3 to 7 gigawatts of thermal emission from the south polar troughs at temperatures up to 145 kelvin or higher, making Enceladus only the third known solid planetary body—after Earth and Io—that is sufficiently geologically active for its internal heat to be detected by remote sensing. If the plume is generated by the sublimation of water ice and if the sublimation source is visible to CIRS, then sublimation temperatures of at least 180 kelvin are required. Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) South Pole Science 311 5766 1401 1405 |
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AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
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description |
The Cassini spacecraft completed three close flybys of Saturn's enigmatic moon Enceladus between February and July 2005. On the third and closest flyby, on 14 July 2005, multiple Cassini instruments detected evidence for ongoing endogenic activity in a region centered on Enceladus' south pole. The polar region is the source of a plume of gas and dust, which probably emanates from prominent warm troughs seen on the surface. Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) detected 3 to 7 gigawatts of thermal emission from the south polar troughs at temperatures up to 145 kelvin or higher, making Enceladus only the third known solid planetary body—after Earth and Io—that is sufficiently geologically active for its internal heat to be detected by remote sensing. If the plume is generated by the sublimation of water ice and if the sublimation source is visible to CIRS, then sublimation temperatures of at least 180 kelvin are required. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Spencer, J. R. Pearl, J. C. Segura, M. Flasar, F. M. Mamoutkine, A. Romani, P. Buratti, B. J. Hendrix, A. R. Spilker, L. J. Lopes, R. M. C. |
spellingShingle |
Spencer, J. R. Pearl, J. C. Segura, M. Flasar, F. M. Mamoutkine, A. Romani, P. Buratti, B. J. Hendrix, A. R. Spilker, L. J. Lopes, R. M. C. Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot |
author_facet |
Spencer, J. R. Pearl, J. C. Segura, M. Flasar, F. M. Mamoutkine, A. Romani, P. Buratti, B. J. Hendrix, A. R. Spilker, L. J. Lopes, R. M. C. |
author_sort |
Spencer, J. R. |
title |
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot |
title_short |
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot |
title_full |
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot |
title_fullStr |
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot |
title_sort |
cassini encounters enceladus: background and the discovery of a south polar hot spot |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1121661 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1121661 |
geographic |
South Pole |
geographic_facet |
South Pole |
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South pole |
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South pole |
op_source |
Science volume 311, issue 5766, page 1401-1405 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121661 |
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Science |
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311 |
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5766 |
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1401 |
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1405 |
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1802650177526300672 |