Saturn's Cleanest Moon: Enceladus
Explanation:
Enceladus orbits
Saturn between the smaller
Mimas and the larger
Tethys.
Enceladus is composed mostly of water ice and has the cleanest and purest
ice surface in the
Solar System. It's surface therefore appears
nearly white. The surface also has many unusual groves and relatively few
craters, like
Jupiter's moon
Ganymede. This indicates that the surface is young
and/or newly reformed. To explain this, some astronomers speculate that
Enceladus is susceptible to some sort of
volcanic activity. Enceladus was
originally discovered in 1789 by
William Herschel.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
