Water Plumes on Moon Enceladus Investigated by James Webb Space Telescope

SPACE — Jets of water erupt from the moon belonging to the planet Saturn y. Enceladus. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope is investigating the event.

Geyser-like plumes release water vapor, organic chemicals and ice particles into space. Missions carried out by the Cassini probe have investigated the bursts.

The spurts flew hundreds of miles between the cracks in what scientists have dubbed the “tiger line”. Webb found that the plume spanned more than 9,656 km. The study detailing the new investigation has been accepted for publication in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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“When I saw the data, at first I thought I must be wrong. It was very surprising to detect a water plume more than 20 times the size of the moon,” said lead study author Geronimo Villanueva, planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. CNN.

He said the jet of water extends far beyond its ejection region at the moon’s south pole. Enceladus is a small moon. It is only about 4 percent the size of Earth. Its width is 503.7 kilometers.

Scientists believe that Enceldus is one of several interesting ocean worlds in the solar system. Scientists think Enceladus has the best chance of finding extraterrestrial life, if it exists.

Even though the oceans are under an icy shell, the moon’s rocky core probably warmed the oceans enough to make them habitable.

Webb’s detailed detections revealed that water vapor is being released from Enceladus at a rate of about 299 liters per second. This speed is enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in a few hours.

“Enceladus’ orbit around Saturn is relatively fast, only 33 hours. As it orbits Saturn, the moon and its rays eject water, leaving a halo, almost like a donut behind it,” said Villanueva.

Saturn probe mission

Enceladus is one of the interesting objects in the Solar System to hunt for life. Scientists have made it a priority to explore Enceladus more thoroughly and discover the depths of its oceans.

There have been two missions dedicated to studying Jupiter’s moon Europa, which has some similarities to Enceladus. Those missions namely NASA’s Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission will arrive in the early 2030s:

Titan, another moon of Saturn will also be explored by NASA’s Dragonfly mission in 2034.